College intern, 21 , was slain on Day 1
Illinois rampage victim just starting out
It was his first day of work, a chance for the young college intern to learn how companies deal with employees.
Trevor Wehner, 21, a student at Northern Illinois University, showed up at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora, Ill., on Friday and got pulled into a meeting with supervisors.
They had an unpleasant task. They intended to fire a worker.
Wehner, who was set to graduate in May with a degree in human-resource management, had never met Gary Martin.
But he watched as Martin was told that he had been let go, according to Wehner’s family friend Cindy Lou, who said on Facebook that the student “sat in and observed the termination.”
Moments later, Martin pulled a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber revolver and shot dead Wehner and two other workers in the room, then two more employees nearby, police said.
The other victims were identified as Clayton Parks, Russell Beyer, Vicente Juarez and Josh Pinkard.
Parks, 32, worked as a manager in the HR department who had joined the company in November.
Beyer, 47, a 20-year veteran at Henry Pratt, attended Martin’s exit meeting because he was the shooter’s union rep — a job he had taken over from his dad, who was union chairman and worked at the company for 40 years.
Juarez, 55, was a stockroom attendant and forklift operator.
Pinkard, 37, a father of three, had worked at Henry Pratt for 13 years.
Martin, who did not have a license to carry the gun, also shot five cops before he was killed in a firefight with police. The officers are expected to survive. “I love you so much bro,” Wehner’s brother Thomas wrote in a Facebook post.
“I remember all the times we would fight but no matter what happened I still loved you. Rest easy big bro. I’m so proud of you. I’ll miss being that annoying little brother to you.”
NIU President Lisa Freeman called the loss “devastating and senseless.”
Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday that it wasn’t clear why Martin, 45, was fired from the industrial-valve manufacturer where he had worked for 15 years.
But, she said, “we can surmise that he was speculative about what was going to happen, as evidenced by him arming himself with a firearm.”
He had at least six prior arrests, including one for aggravated assault in Mississippi, where police said he beat his girlfriend with a bat and knifed her, The Washington Post reported.
Martin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. He served three, then moved to Aurora.