GRIEF STRICKEN A-4.
A victim’s daughter cries Sunday at a makeshift memorial near the Henry Pratt Co., a manufacturing firm in Aurora, Ill., where a gunman killed five people on Friday. Story,
AURORA, Ill. — More than 1,500 people braved snow and freezing drizzle to attend a prayer vigil Sunday for the five victims of a mass shooting by a longtime employee at an Illinois manufacturing warehouse who was fired moments earlier.
The victims included a university student on his first day as an intern and a longtime plant manager.
The Rev. Dan Haas told those who gathered outside the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago, that Friday’s “senseless killings” had left the victims’ families brokenhearted and in mourning.
“All of these were relatively young people — many of them were very young people. We will never know their gifts and talents. Their lives were snuffed out way too short,” he said.
Rev. Haas offered “a variety of prayers” for the different aspects of the situation — including for the families of the victims, for the victims themselves, for employees of the company and for the police officers who were involved in the incident. “We give thanks for them,” Rev. Haas said.
Rev. Randy Schoof was also among those leading prayers at the vigil sponsored and conducted by the Aurora Prayer Coalition. The coalition led many prayer vigils during Aurora’s more violent past.
“It’s sad to once again have to be on site and recommit the area to the Lord, but it’s the right and good thing to do,” Rev. Schoof said.
The vigil also was supported by the city of Aurora. Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin told the vigil crowd that the city’s residents feel for the victims’ families “with all our hearts.”
Authorities said over the weekend that Gary Martin pulled out a gun Friday and began shooting right after hearing he was being fired from his job of 15 years at the industrial valve manufacturer for various workplace violations. The company has not given further details on what they were.
An initial background check failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed his co-workers and wounded six others from buying the gun.
Months later, a second background check of Martin found his 1995 aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi involving the stabbing of an ex-girlfriend. But it prompted only a letter stating his gun permit had been revoked and ordering him to turn over his firearm to police — raising questions about the state’s enforcement to ensure those who lose their permits also turn over their weapons.
Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with officers Friday, ending his deadly rampage at the plant. His state gun license permit was revoked in 2014, Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said.
But he never gave up the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun he used in the attack. Investigators are still trying to determine what exactly law enforcement agencies did after that letter was sent, Chief Ziman said.