AURORA, Ill. (AP) — A 15-year employee being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company started shooting Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said.
Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin “was being terminated” before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. — which makes valves for industrial purposes — in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.
She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.
Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.
Police said they did not know the gunman’s motive.
“May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.
John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.
“What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it,” Probst said.
Probst said he wasn’t hurt but that another colleague was “bleeding pretty bad.”
“It’s a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It’s a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life,” Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.
At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin’s unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.
Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son’s birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.
“This is a strange thing to come home to, right,” she said. She had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.
Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mother’s Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom on Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.
Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mother’s house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch stoop. it was only when they flipped on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.
“In Aurora, period, we’d never thought anything like this would happen,” Fonseca, a lifelong resident of the Chicago suburb, said as she looked out at the factory.
The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. “America is with you,” he said.
““It’s a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It’s a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life,” Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.”
WHERES THE PROOF YOU COCKSUCKERS?
We may never learn WHY or HOW he was being terminated…was he being replaced by Pedro because he’s been there too long and now makes too much money? Had he been incriminated of sexual harassment by a 19 year-old new hire who’s been brainwashed to be a victim and empowered with this “me too” crap? I’d be pissed off too…everyone has a different breaking point. We probably will never hear the truth about this incident, but I can definitely read the propaganda spin in the above article: people with guns are evil and psycho. Cops are brave heroes. We need to outlaw frickin’ laser beams! It’s for the children….
An armed society is a polite society. Never leave home without your sidearm.
Been there too long, he should have learned to drive a truck. They didnt want to pay a pension, obviously.
That sounds about right for Illinois.
“May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.’
No, curse the POS who managed to kill 5 innocent people, while only WOUNDING 5 scumbags that NEEDED to be killed.
“What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it,” Probst said.”
Helluva lot of good it did when targeting the pigs, since they all survived (IF this sh#t is even true to begin with… since ‘Aurora’ already has priors).
“Police said they did not know the gunman’s motive.”
Proof-positive they’re NOT hired for their intelligence.
Okay… I was checking the earlier articles when I came across THIS from late yesterday…
https://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/gunman-wounds-several-people-in-illinois-building-suspect-held/241644
“A gunman opened fire in an industrial building in Aurora, Illinois on Friday, city and law enforcement officials said, wounding several people before he was taken into custody.”
Now, I just HAVE to ask… WHAT THE F%&K IS GOING ON HERE????? TAKEN INTO CUSTODY?????
“… started shooting Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said.”
YA CAN’T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, DUMBF%&KS!!!!!
Good catch, yeah they showed his damn picture, WTF? YOU SHOW HIS PICTURE, YOU BETTER HAVE GODDAMN PROOF HE’S EVEN DEAD!
Rokit syentists… the whole damn bunch.
https://youtu.be/IYnuSsM7tRw?t=1
Well, from what I understand, this person had prior felonies and was, according to the “authorities”, not allowed to own a gun. Yet he was able to pass the Illinois State Police background check and received an FOID card. Here in Illinois you cannot even look at a gun in the store or buy ammo if you do not have a FOID card. Then he passed the FBI NICS background check. So the government failed completely on two separate occasions to stop him from buying a gun and ammunition. These are the laws the anti-Americans insisted on, they said it would stop this kind of thing from happening, it didn’t. So, what is their response? Get rid of the checks? NO! Get rid of the FOID card? NO! Work to improve their failed system? NO! They now want MORE anti – gun LAWS!!!!!!!!!
Stop the insanity you F’ING MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!