Feb 24, 2019
CHICAGO: An employee at a manufacturing company where he worked for 15 years upon being
sacked opened fire in the suburban Chicago plant on Friday, killing five co-workers
and wounding five police officers. He was shot.
Police said 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" before he started
shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. which makes valves for industrial purposes.
The company is about 65 km west of Chicago city.
The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reported his family as saying he was "stressed
out" at being made redundant by the company.
"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, 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.
The police named the five victims as Russell Beyer from Yorkville, Illinois,
Vicente Juarez from Oswego, Illinois, Clayton Parks of Elgin, Illinois, the
human resources manager, Josh Pinkard from Oswego, the plant manager, Trevor
Wehner, a 21-year-old student at Northern Illinois University and a human resources
intern on his first day at Henry Pratt.
