25-Year-Old Printed Machine Guns At His Minneapolis Home: Feds

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man illegally used a 3D printer to manufacture machine guns, according to federal authorities.

Aaron Malik Cato, 25, was charged in a criminal complaint with possession of machine guns.

Cato made his initial appearance on Wednesday in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung, according to a news release. He was ordered to remain in detention.Minne

Authorities say that on Aug. 31 law enforcement conducted a controlled delivery of a package that contained 30 firearm parts to Cato's Minneapolis residence.

The package had been shipped from Taiwan but intercepted by Customs and Border Protection agents, according to investigators.

The package contained enough parts to create 10 auto sears, a device that turns a semi-automatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm and is considered a machinegun under federal law, authorities said.

Agents searched Cato’s home using a warrant and found seven firearms, including five handguns and two AR platform firearms, according to investigators.

Three of the handguns were equipped with auto sears and appeared to be "Privately Made Firearms," otherwise known as "ghost guns," authorities said.

Agents also found four 3D printers and multiple 3D-printed auto sears, according to investigators.