Aug. 9—Felons have been know to obtain flare guns and modify them to shoot shotgun shells, a Decatur gun dealer said Monday, two days after a Lawrence County deputy fatally shot a man who ...

DECATUR — Joseph A. Brown, who cycled around Decatur armed with a flare gun modified to fire shotgun shells and attacked a cop when he was caught, has been sent to prison for 14 years.

He said the flare gun is capable of firing a projectile 500 feet per second, about the same speed as a .22-caliber round being fired from a rifle.