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Police said that the fired worker who had killed five people in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, had been able to buy the firearm that he had used, because an initial background check did not reveal that he had previously been convicted of a crime in Mississippi. (February 16)
AP
One of the victims of an armed man who killed five people last week in Illinois sent a message of love to his wife while he was in the process of die.
Terra Pinkard said she had received texting Friday from her husband, Josh, who was working in a manufacturing facility in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago.
"I got a message at 1:24 pm from my precious husband, who said I loved you, I got shot at work," she wrote on Facebook on Sunday. "It took me several times to read it before I realized it was real."
Josh Pinkard, 37, was director of the Henry Pratt Co.'s factory. Police said Gary Martin had killed five colleagues and injured six other people, including five policemen. Martin was shot and killed on the scene.
Terra Pinkard said she tried calling, texting and coping with her husband several times but that her husband had never received an answer. She then called the factory and the woman who responded stated that she was barricaded in a room and that police were invading the area.
A man prays in front of an improvised memorial on February 17, 2019, in Aurora, Illinois, near the Henry Pratt Manufacturing Company, where several people were killed on Friday. (Photo11: Nam Y. Huh, AP)
Pinkard packed their three children and drove to the factory, but met with closed roads. She drove to two hospitals waiting for news in the second. Pastors, colleagues and neighbors were sitting with her, she said.
"I finally got in touch with the Aurora (police) who spoke to me about a staging area for the families of the victims," she writes. "I do not know how my body trained there, but that's what we did.The police informed us that there had been deaths. my husband's name. "
She told her children that their father "did not survive and that he is in heaven with Jesus, I never had to do anything so hard."
She added that the media had asked her to talk about him, but that it was too difficult.
"I want to shout from the roofs how amazing Josh was!" she wrote. "He was brilliant! The most intelligent person I've ever met! My best friend!"
More: A vigil in the honor of the victims of the destruction of firearms in Aurora, Illinois
She thanked friends and family for their love, prayers and kindness.
"Please, pray for my children," she added. "They struggle because they miss a dad who loved them so much.Please, pray that, one way or another, I can put that foot in front of the other. "
Martin, a 15-year-old factory employee, had been summoned to a meeting and had been fired when he had started firing, authorities said. Josh Pinkard was one of three people killed at the meeting.
Her gun license was canceled in 2014, after checking Mississippi's criminal record, said Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman. She was told to hand over her weapon but never did, she said.
About 1,700 people gathered Sunday in the snow and freezing drizzle for a prayer vigil, bowing their heads and paying tribute to the victims and first responders.
"It's not enough to present one's condolences," said Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. "This does not measure the extent of the pain felt for the loss we have suffered in this community."
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/02/18/aurora-shooting-victim-josh-pinkard-texted-his-wife-he-lay-dying/ 2903328002 /
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