A look inside the NIBIN system, linking guns to unsolved crimes

After the trigger is pulled, every gun creates unique markings on bullet shells, which could be considered a kind of "fingerprint."

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - After the trigger is pulled, every gun creates unique markings on bullet shells, which could be considered a kind of "fingerprint."

Investigators at the Oklahoma City Police Department and the ATF are using the "National Integrated Ballistic Information Network" (NIBIN) to help create a database of crime and tracking those brass fingerprints.

"Our real goal here is to find serial shooters that are committing multiple shootings across the entire state and put them in jail," said Kevin Brown, the resident agent over the Oklahoma City Field office for the ATF.

Next door to the Oklahoma City Police Department, inside the crime lab, is the NIBIN unit. It's a partnership between the ATF and OKCPD.

Every gun taken into evidence after a crime first comes to a steel-reinforced water-filled tank.

"One of our operators literally fires the gun into the hole puts a live round in, and fires the round," said Brown.

The shell, or brass, is then processed into the BrassTrax system.

The device looks for the unique "fingerprint" the firearm has left on the shell casing. Every gun makes a different series of markings that are consistent among all bullets that are ejected from that weapon.

First, there is the "Breach Face" marking.

"It's going to leave some sort of marking around the outer perimeter," said Brown.

Then, the hammer of the gun leaves the second marking in the center.

The third marking is made after the bullet has been fired.

"Once that explosive action happens and it extends this projectile out of the shell casing and down," said Brown. "There's a part of the gun called an "ejector," which will grab a hold the shell and throw it out."

The BrassTrax computer then makes several renderings, making the markings easier to see.

That data is then uploaded to a nationwide cloud-based server located in Huntsville, Alabama or Wichita State University.

The computer searches for matches, which are then checked by a series of dedicated employees.

If there is a match, the data is sent back to the police department and given to the appropriate investigators.

"Law enforcement may not know exactly who committed that crime initially," said Bob Troester, the US Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma. "But, they will know that a firearm that was discovered was the the gun that was used maybe in several different instances."

"Every two weeks we hold a meeting here in Oklahoma City. That's part of this joint investigative work among all the partners that are entering this information into the system," said Brown. "We're able to get, Midwest City and Dell City, and Oklahoma City, and ATF in a room together to say, 'Oh, yeah. That same suspect popped up in these other cases.'"

The OKCPD said in 2023, 348 investigative leads came from NIBIN.

"Based off of one incident, you can have a spiderweb of several other crimes where a gun was used to commit a shooting," said Captain Valerie Littlejohn with OKCPD. "It's helping to link all these cases together and hopefully get these criminals off the street."

"This is working," said Capt. Littlejohn added.

For example, Marcus Harris was convicted of committing nine armed robberies in January of 2023. On July 3, 2022, Harris robbed a Family Dollar, where he isolated an employee with a firearm and ordered those in the store to not call police. Four days later, he robbed a Cricket Wireless store.

"On his way out, he discharges firearm and shot back at the building, which expended a shell casing." said Brown.

The next day, Harris was taken into custody after running from a traffic stop "after having either committed or attempted two other armed robberies that same day," according to the press release.

"He went over the fence and he had a pretty good lead on the officers who were on foot," said Captain Michelle Henderson, just after the 2022 arrest. "He was running through backyards. We were concerned that he was going to kick in a door which we did not want that to happen. So we were able to stop him before he was able to do anything else."

Police officers took Harris' gun into evidence.

"We then took that firearm the very next day test, fired it and instantly got a match," said Brown.

Harris was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

"We bring those charges, lock up that individual, so no more shootings can happen, and it certainly won't happen with that gun," said Troester. "That allows city police departments, sheriff's offices, and the state's DAs to continue their investigation."

Troester said his office has federally charged 91 individuals with firearms offenses since 2021, through the "Shots Fired" initiative. In many of those cases, NIBIN linked the illegally possessed firearms to shootings in our communities.

"[NIBIN] augments that already detailed hard work that officers do and adds 21st century technology," said Troester. "to develop leads and tie different crime scenes together."