Attorneys general in Washington, D.C., and Maryland have filed lawsuits against three gun stores that allegedly contributed to gun trafficking in the nation’s capital.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, and Everytown Law today announced the filing of a lawsuit against three federally licensed gun dealers for “illegally selling dozens of firearms to a phantom buyer who then trafficked the guns,” Schwalb’s office said in a press release Tuesday.

The press release states that the gun stores — Engage Armament, LLC (Engage), United Gun Shop (United), and Atlantic Guns, Inc. (Atlantic), all located in Montgomery County, Maryland — “ignored clear warning signs” and sold guns to the same man, Demetrius Minor, in 2021.

Minor was convicted of federal firearms trafficking in late 2022, and authorities said he would take firearms purchased from the three gun stores he prosecuted and illegally sell them to others.

Washington, D.C., is facing a growing gun violence crisis, with the nation’s capital recording its highest number of homicides in more than 30 years last year. More than 90 percent of those homicides were committed with firearms, according to the complaint.

In Washington, the flow of illegal guns is largely fueled by individuals who purchase guns on behalf of those who are not legally entitled to own them, Attorney General Schwalb said.

He noted that about 95 percent of the guns recovered in Washington, despite strict gun laws, come from neighboring states like Maryland and Virginia. While some of those guns are stolen, the majority are linked to illegal purchases through middlemen, according to gun trafficking data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“The level of gun violence in the District and the devastating impact it has on victims, families and our community as a whole is unacceptable,” Schwalb said. “This is a regional problem that requires a regional solution, because too often guns purchased in Maryland and Virginia cross our borders and end up at crime scenes in Washington.”

He continued: “Today, we hold these gun dealers, businesses that chose profit over safety, accountable for their gross negligence, their blatant disregard for the law, and the suffering they have inflicted throughout the District and the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia).”

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said in a statement: “Let this serve as a warning to other traffickers who endanger public safety for profit: We are watching and will hold you accountable for the illegal behavior that fuels gun violence in our region.”

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.