US MAN BEING FIRED FROM JOB SHOOTS FIVE COLLEAGUES DEAD
A man being fired from his job shot dead five co-workers at a factory on the outskirts of Chicago and wounded five police officers before being gunned down himself, in the country’s latest mass shooting. The gunfire took place at 1.24pm at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois. Police named the suspect as Gary Martin, 45, of Aurora. He was a 15-year employee of the company and “information that we have indicates he was being terminated today”, said Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman.
A US man being fired from his job shot dead five co-workers at a factory on the outskirts of Chicago and wounded five police officers before being gunned down himself, in the country’s latest mass shooting.
The gunfire took place at 1.24pm at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois.
Police named the suspect as Gary Martin, 45, of Aurora. He was a 15-year employee of the company and “information that we have indicates he was being terminated today”, said Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman.
The shooting came the day after Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said gun violence is a “national emergency” far more real than the one US President Donald Trump declared on Friday to build his border wall.
Police chief Ziman did not have further details about why Martin was being fired and whether the killing was premeditated.
“Five employees were located deceased inside the building,” and preliminary reports indicated they were killed before police arrived, Ziman told reporters.
Responding to multiple calls about a shooting at the company, which supplies water valves and employs about 200 people, officers were immediately confronted by Martin. He shot and wounded two of them with a handgun.
As other officers arrived, they entered the building to hunt for the retreating gunman. Three more officers were shot but none of the five appeared to be in a critical condition.
After about 90 minutes, officers inside the building located the gunman who opened fire again and was killed by returning fire from police.