DANIA BEACH, Fla. – The family of a 22-year-old man who was fatally shot outside a Dania Beach Winn Dixie on Monday want to know how the suspect, Jeffrey Collie, 71, was able to get a gun and concealed weapons permit from the state of Florida.
Collie, who was seen standing near Ellyaher "EJ" Lanza's body after the shooting, pleaded no contest to carrying a concealed weapon in 1987 and was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of child abuse a year later. He was also convicted on a marijuana charge in 2008 and charged with possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. The last charge was later dropped.
"How did he even get a permit? How did somebody like that get a permit?" Lanza's sister, Claudia Aguilar, said.
Hollywood gun shop owner and retired police Officer Walter Philbrick said Collie could have been disqualified from buying any gun due to the felony, child abuse and marijuana convictions.
"The man was carrying a gun and using it illegally in my opinion," Philbrick said.
But Philbrick noted that the adjudication was withheld by the judge in the felony conviction, which could have provided him a loophole. The child abuse conviction also may not have been classified as domestic violence, which is another possible loophole.
"This guy should not have been allowed to buy a gun," Philbrick said. "Somehow he skirted the laws and killed an innocent person."
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