Source: United States Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Seattle – A 40 -year-old Seattle resident with a history of making death threats and violently attacking a neighbor, was sentenced late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 18 months in prison for lying in his attempt to purchase a firearm, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller. Filmore Doyoon Kim attempted to purchase a firearm on February 13, 2025, just days after emailing a series of threats to his Washington State Department of Corrections Probation Officer. In sentencing Kim to the top of the guidelines range, U.S. District Judge Lauren King said, “The crime is extremely serious… repeatedly threating the life of a corrections officer and continuing to threaten others with violence. You are a danger to the public.”
According to records filed in the case, Kim was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2022, for burglary. In that case he broke into a neighbor’s apartment and beat the neighbor unconscious in front of the man’s 4-year-old child. Kim left a note for the neighbor written in blood threatening to kill him. Kim also has harassment convictions for threatening to kill apartment managers and others in various residences. While Kim was on probation for the burglary case, he sent threatening emails to the supervising probation officer threatening to kill him. Kim then went to a federal firearms licensed store and attempted to purchase a handgun. Kim lied on the form and claimed he had not been convicted of a crime punishable by more than a year in jail. When the background check revealed his conviction, the store refused to sell the gun and alerted law enforcement.
In asking for the top end 18-month sentence Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg wrote to the court that it was important to consider the attempt to buy the gun in the context of the threats. “Kim’s offense conduct was extremely serious. He intentionally subverted the background check laws designed to keep guns away from dangerous people – like himself. The larger context of Kim’s attempted firearm purchase – immediately after threatening to kill his supervising CCO and declaring, ‘Don’t forget I can buy gun’ – makes his offense conduct even more concerning.”
Judge King ordered Kim to be on supervised release for three years following his prison term.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC). The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Todd Greenberg.