Employee shoots to death 5 co-workers in Illinois
AURORA (AP) — The frantic calls started pouring in at 1:24 p.m.: a gunman was shooting people inside a sprawling manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois.
Within four minutes, the first police officers rushed to the 29,000-square-foot building and were fired on immediately; one was struck outside and four others shot inside.
By the time the chaos ended Friday afternoon, five male employees of Henry Pratt Co. were found dead and the gunman was killed in a shootout with police after a 90-minute search of the sprawling warehouse. Five male police officers were hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The suburban Chicago city was left asking: “Why?”
“For so many years, we have seen similar situations throughout our nation and the horrible feeling that we get when we see it on the news. To experience it first-hand, is even more painful,” Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said.
Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the gunman, 45-year-old Gary Martin, was being fired from his job on Friday after 15 years with the company.
“We don’t know whether he had the gun on him at the time or if he went to retrieve it,” Ziman said.
She added that authorities did not know yet if the employees firing him were among the victims. The names of those killed were not immediately released.
In addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not lifethreatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.