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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

AURORA, Ill. – The authorities investigated how the murderer had a firearm nearly five years after the revocation of his reverend license.

The Aurora Prayer coalition and local churches organized the vigil at the Henry Pratt Co., where police said Gary Martin killed five colleagues and wounded six others, including five policemen, before being killed in a police raid. shooting.

About 1,700 people gathered in the snow and freezing drizzle on the site, their heads bowed while the clergy guided them in prayer two days after what Reverend Dan Haas described as "senseless killings".

"All were relatively young – many of them were very young. We will never know their gifts and talents. Their lives were way too short, "said Haas about the victims, including a 21-year-old college student on his first day as a trainee.

The Kane County Coroner's Office stated that the autopsies performed on three victims – Russell Beyer, 47, Trevor Wehner, 21, and Clayton Parks, 32 – had determined the cause of their deaths in multiple forms. gunshot wounds. An autopsy on Martin, 45, reached the same conclusions, the coroner's office announced.

The injured police were between 24 and 53 years old. Aurora police said two of them remained hospitalized on Sunday and that they both had to survive.

On the eve, Richard C. Irvin, mayor of Aurora, told the crowd, "When I thought about the words I could share with our community and the families of the victims today. I thought it was not enough to offer condolences. It does not measure the pain we feel, given the loss we have suffered in this community. "

Martin, a 15-year-old employee, was summoned to a meeting and fired when he started firing, authorities said. The victims included three people present at the meeting, including the Wehner Human Resources intern on his first day of work.

Police secured the area after firing at the Henry Pratt Co. on February 15 in Aurora, Ill. (Photo11: Scott Olson, Getty Images)

"I love you so much my brother," his brother Thomas wrote on Facebook. "I remember all the times we fought, but no matter what happened, I've always loved you, rest easy, big brother, I'm so proud of you, I'll miss you. To be that annoying little brother. "

Parks was the human resources manager and Beyer, a mold operator. Josh Pinkard, Plant Manager, and Vicente Juarez, forklift operator, were also killed.

The company is owned by Mueller Water Products, and President Scott Hall is committed to "continuing to work closely with all relevant law enforcement agencies at the local, regional and federal levels. We are grateful for their quick and outstanding response efforts. "

Her gun license was canceled in 2014, after checking Mississippi's criminal record, said Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman.

"He was not supposed to be in possession of a gun," Ziman said.

More: Victims of the rampage include a human resources manager, a trainee and a forklift operator

More: Gunman involved in shooting has 6 arrests in Aurora

Martin received a firearms identification card in January 2014 and two years later applied for a Smith & Wesson handgun to an Aurora arms dealer. A few days later, when Martin applied for a hidden porter's permit, it was discovered that he had been convicted of felony in 1995 for serious assault in Mississippi.

Martin's concealed harbor permit was denied and his firearm identification card was revoked by the Illinois police.

Ziman said the state police should have sent a letter to Martin informing him that he was in illegal possession of a firearm and had to surrender his weapon. The police are trying to determine if this letter was sent and why the gun was never delivered.

In addition to the sentence handed down in Mississippi, Martin had been arrested six times by the Aurora police, including once in 2008 for a family affair. He was arrested in 2017 in the nearby town of Oswego for disorderly conduct and property damage.

Bacon reported by McLean, Virginia. Contribution: The Associated Press

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