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Illinois State Police admitted Monday that the agency falsely issued a firearms license to the shooter when the Aurora warehouse was murdered, but in a detailed statement it also hinted that the Aurora Police Department may have failed to do its part to ensure that the man was no longer in possession of a weapon.
According to state records, Gary Martin requested the gun owner's identity card on January 17, 2014. He provided his name and date of birth for a verification of the firearms owner's identity card. antecedents, and falsely answered "no" when asked if he had ever been found guilty of a crime. .
A search in the records revealed only Martin's criminal history in Illinois, a series of minor offenses that did not prevent him from owning a firearm. The selection process failed to detect a mid-1990s crime conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi, for which he served five years in prison and was released in 1997.
Martin received his firearms license on January 31, 2014. Less than five weeks later, he purchased a 40-gauge Smith & Wesson from an Aurora arms dealer. The purchase was approved on March 6, 2014, after Martin's name and date of birth erased a second background check.
Martin used the weapon on Friday to fatally shoot five of his colleagues and wound several police officers at Henry Pratt. He died later in a shootout with the forces of order.
State police said the agency was reviewing records from Illinois, Mississippi and the federal government to determine how the felony conviction had escaped two background checks criminals.
Aurora police chief, Kristen Ziman, said a criminal background check would not necessarily detect a 20-year sentence. However, Martin's aggravated assaults are easily found in the public record databases used by the Chicago Tribune and the country's media outlets.
The Illinois state police realized that Martin should never have received his firearms license a few weeks after Smith & Wesson's purchase, according to a schedule communicated by the agency Monday. Martin applied for a concealed port permit on March 16, 2014 and submitted fingerprints to expedite the application process. These fingerprints produced an FBI record that eventually led the state police to condemn Martin for a crime in Mississippi.
In a statement released Monday, the Illinois State Police announced that it had canceled Martin's license on April 17, 2014 and sent a letter informing him that he could no longer possess a firearm. . The Aurora police department should also have been informed of Martin's dismissal through a national police database, in line with the agency's policy, the statement said.
Upon receipt of the letter, Martin had 48 hours to transfer the handgun to a person with a valid firearms license or his local law enforcement agency, police said Monday. the state. He was also required to submit documents – referred to as the Firearm Disposal Record – to the Aurora Police Department proving that he no longer possessed the firearms. ;armed.
The Aurora police, in turn, were required to send the completed form to the Illinois State Police. The state agency has no records of Aurora having sent the required documentation.
"The ISP has no record of receiving a firearms transfer file for Martin or Martin's FOID card at this time, but the paper and electronic files are still going on," the agency said. in a statement.
If a revoked FOID cardholder fails to comply with the revocation conditions, the county sheriff or local law enforcement agency may apply to the court to issue a search warrant for any firearm in his possession. . However, the law of Illinois does not require it to do so.
The police have never asked the court permission to search Martin.
Aurora police officials – who announced that they would publish other updates about the shootings mainly via social media – have not responded to requests for comment received on Monday. Ziman, who became head of the department in 2016, had previously stated that she was not sure whether Aurora police or another agency was checking whether Martin had surrendered his firearm. It was also unclear whether Aurora had any record of receiving the notice of revocation.
"We are looking at this," Ziman said Saturday at a press conference.
The state police issued 10,818 revocations of the FOID law last year. He is currently conducting a review to determine how many firearms disposal records have been returned.
"In most cases, the gun registry is not returned," says the ISP release.
Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain recently told the Aurora Beacon-News that his office was about to launch a database to verify the identity of the owner of a weapon. fire. The database would only monitor the unincorporated areas of Kane County that the sheriff's office oversees.
sstclair @ chicagotribune
Twitter @stacystclair
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