Gary Montez Martin

Gary Montez Martin was an American mass murderer who committed a mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Company (his former place of work) in Aurora, Illinois on February 15, 2019. Six people including the perpetrator died and six others were injured. It is the second mass shooting of note to take place in Aurora, behind the Century 16 movie theater shooting perpetrated by James Holmes in 2012.

Background
Martin was convicted in 1995 for a felony aggravated assault in Mississippi, and served two-and-a-half years in prison in Mississippi for that conviction. Aurora police stated that he had six arrests with the Aurora Police Department, including arrests for domestic violence involving a former girlfriend (which included hitting her with a baseball bat and stabbing her with a knife), and violating a restraining order, and that he had a 2017 arrest in Oswego, Illinois for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

Martin was not legally allowed to possess a gun in Illinois because of his prior felony conviction in Mississippi. However, in 2014 he applied for, and was issued an Illinois FOID card because the FOID background check in Illinois did not involve a fingerprint check. In March 2014, he was able to buy a gun (which he is believed to have used during the shooting) from a licensed gun dealer in Aurora using that FOID card. Later that month he applied for a concealed carry license from the Illinois State Police. The concealed carry background check involved a fingerprint check, and Martin's felony conviction was discovered at that point. The Illinois State Police rejected his concealed carry application, cancelled his FOID card and sent him a written notice demanding that he turn in the gun that he had purchased. He did not do so. According to a CNN report, the authorities are now trying "to determine why he didn't surrender the weapon and whether law enforcement followed up with him to confiscate the gun."

Martin's relatives told reporters that he had been released from his position at the company about two weeks prior to the shooting. Other news outlets reported that he was being fired from his job on the day of the shooting, and that the shooting itself started during the termination meeting. The police learned from interviewing workers at the plant that he made threats prior to being fired, and is quoted as saying, "If I get fired, I'm going to kill every motherfucker in here" and "I am going to blow police up." The employee who heard this said he did not bother reporting this to anybody, as the Martin apparently made comments like that regularly.

The shooting
The first reports of the shooting began to arrive at 1:24 p.m., with the first officers arriving four minutes from the first call. Witnesses said they saw Martin carrying a handgun with a green laser sight attached.The shooting prompted a multi-agency response with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the United States Marshals Service assisting local police.

Martin returned fire when law enforcement arrived. Officers reported at 2:59 p.m. that Martin had been shot and killed. The exchange of gunfire lasted about 90 minutes. In total, five people were killed by Martin. Five police officers were injured along with another civilian.

The five victims fatally shot were male workers at the Henry Pratt plant: a 32-year-old human resources manager, a 37-year-old plant manager, a 46-year-old mold operator, a 55-year-old stock room attendant and forklift operator, and a 21-year-old student of Northern Illinois University on his first day as a human resources intern. A sixth plant employee sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting, and was hospitalized with non life threatening injuries.