Man Sues Tuscaloosa Gun Store that Sold Him A Stolen Handgun

A man is suing a gun store in Tuscaloosa for negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent suppression after a handgun he purchased there turned out to be stolen.

The defendant, Eddrick Toeran, filed a lawsuit Monday that claims he purchased a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun in April 2018 from Guns and Ammo, LLC on Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa.

Toeran said eight months later, in January 2019, he was coming back to Tuscaloosa from Montgomery when a Bibb County sheriff's deputy stopped him for driving with a headlight out.

Toeran claims in the lawsuit that he told the officer he about the pistol in his vehicle when he handed over his driver's license and insurance information. The officer ran the firearm's serial number through a federal database and found the pistol was flagged as having been stolen in Tuscaloosa in 2017.

Toeran was arrested at the scene and charged with receiving stolen property and released on a $5,000 bond after a day in the Bibb County Jail. Guns and Ammo provided Torean with a proof of purchase receipt, and all charges against him were dropped around a week after they were filed.

Toeran also claims that he was suspended without pay from a managerial position at Wal-Mart after his arrest and was not reinstated there for two weeks.

Now Toeran is suing Guns and Ammo, LLC and its owner Joshua Wakefield, seeking a jury trial to compel the store to provide him compensatory and punitive damages.

Toeran also claims that Wakefield pleaded guilty in June 2019 to violating Tuscaloosa municipal code by not reporting the stolen handgun to the city's police department.