The Aurora workplace shooting that left multiple dead Friday is at a business that's a subsidiary of Mueller Water Co., founded in Decatur.
Six people died — including the gunman — in a workplace shooting at a manufacturing firm Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said Friday. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman confirmed the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with police. Police believe he was an employee, and said they did not know the motive.
The scene is Henry Pratt Co., a company that's a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Co., founded by Hieronymus Mueller in Decatur.
Here's what else we know about the shooting so far:
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- At 2:23 p.m., City of Aurora officials confirmed an active shooter and Aurora police were on the scene at 641 Archer Road, an industrial area approximately 40 miles from Chicago. Officials would later confirm the incident happened at Henry Pratt Co., a manufacturing firm.
- Multiple people were reported injured, according to officials.
- Officials by 3 p.m. had confirmed the shooter had been apprehended. Law enforcement sources at 3:45 p.m. confirmed the shooter was dead.
- At a press conference Friday evening attended by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, authorities confirmed 5 victims had been killed, and five officers were injured. The shooter, Martin, was also dead, making a total of 6 people killed in the incident.
- Hospital officials at Rush Copley in Aurora earlier said in a tweet they had received three patients who were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
- The shooting had prompted lockdowns at nearby schools, including Aurora University.
- What is today the Henry Pratt Co., which makes valves, began in 1901 as a metal fabricating shop, according to the company's website. Its administrative headquarters are located in Aurora, and the company also has manufacturing plants in Aurora, Washington, and Indiana. The company is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Co.
9:50 p.m.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, released the following statement:
"My heart breaks for Aurora. Illinois is forever grateful to the bravery of our first responders and law enforcement who risked their lives today protecting the community they serve. They are heroes. I join with everyone in Aurora, especially those who have lost loved ones in this tragic mass shooting, in mourning the loss of innocent life and praying for the victims, the injured, and their families.
Yesterday, we remembered the victims of the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Northern Illinois University, and today we are grieving yet again for another community victimized by a senseless shooting. How many more times can we witness horrific events like this, or another child shot in Chicago, and not do anything to help prevent these tragedies? Gun violence in America is an epidemic, one that will take political courage and conviction to truly address on a bipartisan basis. I’m ready to do that, and I hope my colleagues are too."
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AURORA, Ill. — Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing firm in a Chicago suburb Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said Friday.
Authorities confirmed the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with police. Police believe he was an employee at Henry Pratt Co. in the industrial park in Aurora, about 30 miles west of Chicago. They said they did not know the motive.
Martin’s mother told WGN: “My heart goes out to all the victims.”
Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the department received a call for shots fired around 1:24 p.m. at 641 Archer Ave., a manufacturing warehouse. At 1:28 p.m., officers were fired upon immediately and two of the four officers who entered at first were shot.
Presence Mercy Medical Center spokesman Matt Wakely said that the hospital received three victims from the shooting, According to The Associated Press. Wakely said two were being treated and the third has been transferred via helicopter to another hospital. No conditions were available. No victims had been sent to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove as of Friday evening, spokeswoman Kate Eller told AP.
Rush Copley Hospital said in a tweet it had received three patients from the shooting in Aurora, and did not expect to receive more. Earlier in the day, the hospital said it had received two patients.
An employee named John Probst told the local ABC affiliate he was in the building when the shooting took place. He identified the gunman as a co-worker.
“One of the guys was up in the office, he said this person was shooting and he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad,” he said. “ … What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it.”
Bob Gonzalez, president of the school board of the nearby West Aurora School District 129, lives and works what he estimated was 50 feet from the Henry Pratt Co. His twin 4-year-old grandchildren were in his home upstairs and he was talking with a client in his State Farm office downstairs when they heard sirens and squad cars fly by.
They at first assumed it was a fire, but when the squads kept coming for the next 20 minutes, they knew it was more. He saw cars from Aurora and other nearby agencies, state police troopers and a homeland security vehicle.
As soon as he heard it was a shooting, he locked the doors to his office, closed the blinds upstairs, took his grandchildren to a bathroom in the back of the apartment and told them to stay away from the windows. They asked questions and he tried to keep them calm, telling them that maybe it was just a fire, “but I was very scared at the same time,” he said.
Appearing at a news conference with Aurora officials, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there was no way for him to prepare for this kind of event, the first tragedy of his administration.
“There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors if their hopes, their dreams and their futures,” he said. “There are no words to express our gratitude to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face.”
Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood issued a statement regarding the shooting. The four officers are members of Aurora FOP Lodge # 11, according to a news release.
“Every police officer dreads days like this one, yet these four courageous Aurora officers and their colleagues did not hesitate to literally put their lives on the line today to stop further bloodshed. These four heroes willingly ran into harm’s way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price. We Illinoisans should be humbly grateful for their sacrifice, and we ask that you join us in praying that the injured civilians and police officers make a full and speedy recovery.”