By Lauren Young
Staff Writer
When it comes to guns, John Laubscher knows what to look for when determining the best fit for a customer. When it came to one customer in particular on March 12, he determined the best fit was no gun at all.
On March 12, 22-year-old Syracuse University student Xiaoteng Zhan walked into The Gun Shop and AJ’s Archery in Nelson to buy a gun. And not just any gun — but a semi-automatic rifle.
While international college students gun shopping at Laubscher’s store isn’t particularly unusual, he knew this instance was.
“[Zhan] was very particular about wanting a certain gun,” said Laubscher, the shop owner. This gun was an AR-15 — a military-style rifle common in many national mass shootings, from the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting to the recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida.
The strangeness of the interaction led Laubscher to call the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which resulted in a weeklong investigation that led to Zhan’s deportation back to China by federal agents on March 20. Syracuse Police also believe the call is what stopped Zhan from planning a mass shooting.
While customers typically have an idea of what they are looking for in a gun shop, Laubscher said that Zhan’s choice of guns were unfit for the needs he described. The particular AR-15 rifle Zhan was initially interested in is not available in the state due to the New York SAFE Act, which bans weapons with certain features such as muzzle devices or adjustable stocks.
When the student then turned his attention to high-capacity shotguns “for hunting,” Laubscher considered it odd for the time of season, as the next hunting season, turkey season, does not begin until May. A gun of such capacity, he said, “wouldn’t be necessary for that” anyway.
His questions, he added, “weren’t lining up to what he was looking for,” and “as the conversation continued, the red flags became more apparent,” said Laubscher.
Zhan mentioned that he had visited Dick’s Sporting Goods at Destiny USA prior in his search for an assault riffle, but ended up leaving without one. When Laubscher asked why he left without a purchase, Zhan insisted that it was “too difficult of a process” for him to do so.
After Zhan filled out a gun registration form, Laubscher noticed he was a foreign student under a visa and told him he was unable to purchase a gun, as he was a non-citizen in the state without a gun license. A hunting license, however, would allow Zhan to purchase a gun, he said.
“He immediately whipped it out of his pocket and said, I have it right here,” said Laubscher, which surprised him due to the complexity of obtaining a hunting license to begin with. Not only that, but Zhan had just received his hunting license the day before.
“That was odd because it seemed like he just gotten the hunting license solely for the purpose of buying a gun,” said Laubscher. “This isn’t just a course you can sign up for in two days; we always have customers coming in here and begging for us to hold hunting license classes because there’s so few around.”
Zhan explained that he did not know how to use a gun but would be training at a Syracuse University gun class. As someone who earned his master’s degree from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Laubscher knew such a class did not exist at the university.
“That just made no sense,” said Laubscher. “I know some other colleges have gun training classes, but not SU,” said Laubscher. “That’s when I knew something was definitely up.”
After this series of conflicting and confusing questions, Laubscher decided not to sell Zhan a gun, and instead copied his license plate number down after he left and called the Madison County Sheriff’s Office with the information obtained from his registration form.
While Zhan was away in Mexico for Spring Break, Madison County authorities were able to track down his residence at 324 W. Water Street in the Creekwalk Commons. After obtaining a search warrant following an investigation of his mental health history on March 19, police raided Zhan’s apartment and discovered ammunition, gunsights, a shotgun shoulder carrier and a laser scope.
When Zhan arrived in Newark from Mexico, federal agents were waiting for him at the airport. Following the revocation of his student status at SU, Zhan’s visa is no longer valid.
In the days following Zhan’s deportation, Laubscher received countless thank-you calls from SU parents and students thanking and praising him for his keen judgement and alerting authorities of the suspicious student. “I was just doing what I believed was right and following protocol,” he said, adding that some calls from concerned parents were very emotional and “distressing” to hear.
“They were very grateful,” said Laubscher. “They just couldn’t believe something like that could have happened here.”
As a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, Laubscher said that if other gun shops are as methodical in their background checks and recognizing when “something seems off,” then instances, such as this, of a gun falling into the wrong hands can be intercepted.
“The gun industry is like any other industry; it deserves a fair chance,” said Laubscher.
He added that police were “very dissatisfied with their lack of ability to get information to do two things: get a search warrant for this guy early in the game, and the fact his mental state wasn’t shared to the FBI ‘No Buy’ list.”
According to his contacts with counseling, Laubscher said “He was talking about self-destruction and things like that.”
Because police did not have enough evidence to make an arrest after the initial call, Laubscher said, “more than likely, we would have gotten a proceed or delay based on lack of information,” he said. A delay would have allowed the shop to sell Zhan the gun after three business days.
If Zhan had visited a shop other than The Gun Shop and AJ’s Archery in Nelson, Laubscher said it would have been “very possible” for him to obtain a gun based on the current laws in place.
