RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Surveillance video from Raleigh’s Smokin’ Barrel Gun and Ammo shop shows 24-year-old Keshawn Squire purchasing a pistol that was in the hands of a killer within one week.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced several crimes all related to a multi-state gun trafficking scheme that landed its ringleader in prison for more than a decade.

That ringleader, Jacintre Holley, pleaded guilty to his role in the July scheme, racking up the charges of engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking crime.

“Dangerous felons who are blocked from legally buying guns are turning to gun traffickers and straw purchasers in North Carolina to supply them with the tools to kill,” U.S. Attorney Michael Easley for the Eastern District of North Carolina said. “The criminal conduct in this case put guns bought in eastern North Carolina in the hands of a killer in Connecticut – within 6 days.”

The Taurus 9 mm pistol purchased in Raleigh by Squire days before it was used in a Connecticut murder was a key piece to the investigation. The DOJ said Squire was seen on camera making a phone call immediately after leaving the gun shop.

Call records revealed he had called a Connecticut number that was later connected to Holley. Those phone records also helped investigators further validate the connection to two other co-defendants, Jasnika Craig and Shyheim Williams.

In court, the DOJ showed that Holley had purchased more than 100 firearms from straw purchasers in North Carolina.

Those firearms included at least 37 from Squire, 34 from Craig and Williams who were operating together out of Williamston, North Carolina.

The court sentenced Squire and Craig after they each pled guilty to one count of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm earlier in February.

On Feb. 14, Craig received a two-year sentence for that offense, and Squire received an 18-month sentence the same day. Williams was arrested federally on Feb. 9, and his arraignment is set for April 11.

Holley was then sentenced to more than 10 and a half years in prison.