On February 15, 2019, amass shooting took place at theHenry Pratt Company inAurora, Illinois, United States. Six people died, including the perpetrator, 45-year-old former employee Gary Montez Martin, who was shot and killed by responding police officers. Six others were injured, including five police officers.
The first reports of the shooting began to arrive at1:24 p.m.,[7] with the first officers arriving four minutes from the first call. Witnesses said they saw the perpetrator carrying ahandgun with agreen laser sight attached.[8] The shooting prompted a multi-agency response with agents from theFederal Bureau of Investigation, theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and theUnited States Marshals Service assisting local police.[7] The shooter returned fire when law enforcement arrived. Officers reported at2:59 p.m. that the suspect had been shot and killed. The exchange of gunfire lasted about 90 minutes. In total, five people were killed by the gunman. Five police officers were injured along with another civilian. The perpetrator was killed by law enforcement officers.[8][9][10] They shot the assailant a total of six times, including a shot that struck him in the middle of the forehead.[11]
The five victims fatally shot were male workers at the Henry Pratt plant: 32-year-oldhuman resources manager Clayton Parks, 37-year-old plant manager Josh Pinkard,[12] 46-year-oldmold operator Russell Beyer, 54-year-old stock room attendant and forklift operator Vicente Juarez, and Trevor Wehner, a 21-year-old student ofNorthern Illinois University on his first day as a human resources intern.[2][13]
A sixth plant employee sustainedgunshot wounds during the shooting and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.[14]
The six injured police officers ranged in age from 23 to 59. Four of them sustained gunshot wounds, one was injured by shrapnel, and one had a non-gunshot injury sustained while responding to the shooting. None of the injuries were life-threatening.[2]
Gary Montez Martin (born April 28, 1973), a 45-year-old former employee of the Henry Pratt plant was identified as the perpetrator.[5] Relatives of the shooter told reporters that he had been released from his position at the company about two weeks prior to the shooting.[8] Other news outlets reported that he was being fired from his job on the day of the shooting,[3] and that the shooting itself started during the termination meeting.[15]
Martin was born and raised inHolly Springs, Mississippi. He was convicted in 1995 for afelonyaggravated assault while living inMississippi,[16][17] and served two-and-a-half years in prison for that conviction.[15] Aurora police stated that he had six arrests with the Aurora Police Department, including arrests for domestic violence and violating arestraining order, and that he had a 2017 arrest inOswego, Illinois for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.[5][18]
Martin was not legally allowed to possess a gun in Illinois because of his prior felony conviction in Mississippi. However, in 2014 he applied for, and was issued anIllinois FOID card by the Illinois State Police. In March 2014, he was able to buy a gun (which he is believed to have used during the shooting) from a licensed gun dealer in Aurora using that FOID card.[19][18] Later that month he applied for aconcealed carry license from theIllinois State Police. The concealed carry background check included a fingerprint check, and Martin's felony conviction was discovered at that point. The Illinois State Police rejected his concealed carry application, cancelled his FOID card and sent him a written notice demanding that he turn in the gun that he had purchased. He did not do so.[18] According to a CNN report, the authorities were trying "to determine why he didn't surrender the weapon and whether law enforcement followed up with him to confiscate the gun."[19]
On February 15, after the shooting, the police conducted a search of Martin's home but did not find anything to indicate that he had planned the shooting in advance.[20] Upon further investigation into the crime, the police found out that the gunman did plan this attack. On May 1, it was reported that the gunman entered the workplace with a gun and intended opening fire on people inside. The police learned from interviewing workers at the plant that the gunman made threats prior to being fired, and is quoted as saying, "If I get fired, I'm going to kill every motherfucker in here" and "I am going to blow police up." The employee who heard this said he did not bother reporting this to anybody, as the gunman made comments like that regularly.[21]
SenatorsTammy Duckworth andDick Durbin thankedlaw enforcement for their response, as did GovernorJ. B. Pritzker and PresidentDonald Trump.[22] Trump also offered condolences to the victims and their families.[23] Aurora MayorRichard Irvin said, "It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country [and] that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life. But we as a society cannot allow these horrific acts to become commonplace."[24]
