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Friend Of Oregon District Mass Shooter Pleads Guilty, Sentencing Set

Thousands fill Fifth St. in the quater-mile stretch of business and entertainment venues of the Oregon District for a vigil honoring the victims of the August mass shooting.
Jerry Kenney
/
WYSO
Thousands of people gather on Fifth St. in the Oregon District for a vigil honoring the victims of the August mass shooting.

A 24-year-old man accused of helping the Dayton mass shooter has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms and lying on a federal firearms form.

Ethan Kollie from Kettering appeared Wednesday in Dayton Federal court.

As part of his guilty plea Kollie acknowledged lying on a United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473 when purchasing a micro Draco pistol. He denied using illegal drugs when authorities say Kollie used marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms, an admission that would have prevented the sale from going through.

Investigators recovered the firearm and ammunition along with drug paraphernalia and other weapons from Kollie’s home after the Aug. 4 shooting. The Oregon District massacre left nine people dead and dozens of others injured, in addition to the death of the killer at the hands of police. 

Kollie is not charged with having a direct role in the attack. Authorities allege he assisted shooter Connor Betts by providing, and hiding body armor and weaponry later used in the mass shooting.

Kollie’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.

Jess Mador comes to WYSO from Knoxville NPR-station WUOT, where she created an interactive multimedia health storytelling project called TruckBeat, one of 15 projects around the country participating in AIR's Localore: #Finding America initiative. Before TruckBeat, Jess was an independent public radio journalist based in Minneapolis. She’s also worked as a staff reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio in the Twin Cities, and produced audio, video and web stories for a variety of other news outlets, including NPR News, APM, and PBS television stations. She has a Master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York. She loves making documentaries and telling stories at the intersection of journalism, digital and social media.