MASSIVE RESPONSE
Five responding police officers wounded before attacker is fatally shot
Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday. Five people were killed and five police officers wounded when a gunman opened fire inside a warehouse in Aurora, police say. Police Chief Kristin Zimen confirmed the suspect, 45-year-old Gary Martin, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police after shooting several civilians as well as officers who rushed to the scene.
Aurora, Ill. — An employee of a manufacturing company opened fire at its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police said.
Aurora, Ill., Police Chief Kristen Ziman told a news conference that the gunman was 45-year-old Gary Martin and said he was believed to be an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. — which makes valves for industrial purposes — in the city about 40 miles west of Chicago. She told reporters that officers arrived within minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot warehouse.
Police said they did not know the gunman’s motive.
“May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.
Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions weren’t released. Two of the officers were airlifted to trauma centers in Chicago, Ziman said. She said a sixth officer suffered a knee injury. Officials did not say the total number of people injured other than the police officers.
Dozens of first responder vehicles converged on the building housing the company in Aurora after police received multiple calls about an active shooter at 1:24 p.m. CST.
Several ATF teams also responded to the shooting and were at the scene, according to the agency’s Chicago spokeswoman, and the FBI said it also responded.
John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst said he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.
“What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it,” Probst said.
Probst said he wasn’t hurt but that another colleague was “bleeding pretty bad.”
“It’s a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It’s a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life,” Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.
The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. “America is with you,” he said.
Presence Mercy Medical Center was treating two patients and a third had been transferred by helicopter to another hospital, spokesman Matt Wakely said.