Aurora, Illinois shooting: Suspect and 5 others dead, 5 wounded

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 15 Feb 2019 16:01 UTC

Update2: Five people are dead, and five officers were shot.

Update: At least one person is dead, while the four police officers wher were shot are in stable condition.

Police in Illinois have responding to calls of an ongoing active shooter situation at an industrial park in Aurora, Illinois, which is located about 40 miles east of Chicago.

"We are told that multiple people have been struck by gunfire," a spokesman for the Kane County State Attorney's Office wrote in an email Friday afternoon.

An Aurora police spokesman told The Washington Post the suspect has not yet been detained and "multiple people ... multiple officers" are injured. The spokesperson could not confirm any fatalities. Those in the Highland-Prairie area are being asked to shelter in place.

The shooter has reportedly been apprehended.

The active shooter was first publicly confirmed by the city on their Twitter account.

"We have an ongoing active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an ongoing active scene. We will provide more information once confirmed," the Aurora police department tweeted Friday afternoon.

Live TV reports show dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co.

The Chicago field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced in a tweet that it was responding to the active shooter reports.

FBI agents out of the Chicago field office are also responding to the scene and assisting law enforcement, a spokesperson for FBI-Chicago told ABC News.

Police have not said if anyone has been shot.

Live feed:

Comment: More details on the shooter:

Police have confirmed that five civilians, all employees of the plant, were killed after the gunman, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, went on a shooting rampage inside the facility.

Five officers who responded to the active shooter incident were injured, including two who were airlifted to hospital.

Martin was apprehended by police but later died.

City spokesman Clayton Muhammad reported earlier that the shooter was "neutralized."

The suspect has a criminal record, having been arrested in 1994 for an aggravated assault in Mississippi. According to witnesses, Martin had been an employee at the steel facility for over 15 years.

Police are now combing through his telephone records and searching his house in a bid to establish the motive.

With no official word on the shooter's motive, there have been reports that Martin was laid off from his job at the assembly line a fortnight ago, which allegedly caused him major distress.

One witness who escaped the building told local news that he recognized the shooter as a coworker.

He was reportedly firing indiscriminately inside the building, the employee told ABC7.

Witnesses told Rivera the alleged gunman showed up for work like "any other day" on Friday.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker tweeted that he is monitoring the situation, while calling on the locals to follow police guidelines.