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Six people, including the shooter, are dead after a workplace shooting in Aurora, Illinois this afternoon.

From the Chicago Tribune:

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 the Chicago suburb, and said they did not know the motive.

Five police officers were wounded in the shootout. None of their injuries are believed to be life-threatening.

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60 COMMENTS

    • They probably saved a few lives by charging in. I don’t think it’s fair to comment on their skill.because when you rush into a chaotic situation like that without preparation, stuff happens. I was happy when I read that cops got injured because that meant that some cops went in and got stuff done. Three cheers for them.

      • I WISH HE HAD GONE TO WASHINGTON D.C. AND PUT THAT GUN ON PELOSI,SCHUMER, WATERS, FIENSTEIN AND ALL THE REST OF THE SWAMP. THEY DESERVE TO GET SHOT AND THERE WOULD BE NO TEARS SHED. THAT MISERABLE BUNCH ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. THEY ARE ROBBING OUR COUNTRY BLIND. PLUS ADDING A BIG PRICE TAG ON US TAKING CARE OF ALL THE ILLEGALS IN. TRUMP IS DOING HIS BEST TO GET THE FUNDS FOR THE WALL BUT THAT MISERABLE BUNCH BLOCK HIM EVERY CHANCE THEY GET.

        • Thank Warren for the immeidate, most important response. No, this is not OK. One differentce between the so-called POTG and the anti-people, some shoot first to impose on someone else, or the world, the others only shoot back, only when they have to, to hold the last spaceo of their own left to them.

          On that basis, I’m gonna claim that you’re not just a troll, but an operative, planting astro-turf so it can be pointed out later to discredit the venue, here. “Yeah but they’re haters, look at what they said…” What you said, pretending to be them, to dirty them up.

          Or, if that was an honest thought, it just shows the problem with the anti-people: they don’t want the rest of us to have guns beause they think we’ll use guns the way they would if they were armed. (BTW, we do have a planned political mass shooting during this administration, intended to tip the balance in the house. You’d have to astro-turf the killing of quite a few more D-branded politicritters to get to an even head count, on that. But, no matter: the point is, that we don’t do that.)

          How can you tell that gun owners in the US are no threat? You’re alive to think about it.

          As for that prior comment, indeed, shame on you. Just don’t.

  2. Understand that he used a green laser sight. Guess they will want to outlaw green assault lasers now. Must have been a gun free work place.

    • We already have “pro 2A” folks right here on TTAG who argue that lasers are dangerous and stupid and basically a felony waiting to happen.

      • We already have “pro 2A” folks right here on TTAG who argue that school shooting HOAXES are a myth and people with billions of dollars who own the press and the government can’t fake these events outright and/or blow them insanely out of proportion.

        That being said, you can have my lasers when you pry them from my cold dead fingers.

    • In my humble opinion running a laser on a firearm is only useful if one is running night vision goggles outside of that they really have no value.

  3. Well we all know because of this incident that Jelly Belly will be calling for even more gun control as well as all the anti second amendment groups.
    The question is where were this companies security guards ? Or did this company even have any. Did they have” No Guns Allowed” signs” in place? Everybody understands that
    advertising that can make the place into a magnet for just such an event. Of course no one in the mainstream media dare say such a thing.

  4. Completely unpossible double-plus ungood fake news. Guns do not exist in Illinois nor do felons have guns. Inconceivable!

    • Obviously it’s the fault of Wisconsin and Indiana having no gun laws or law enforcement of any type.

      Someone should sue.

        • Me too. Wouldn’t it be funny if the impotent mass shooters began using Springfield weapons and they were listed by name in the next weapon ban?!? Let them try carving out an exemption this time after all the bad press from their previous scumbaggery.

    • This attack was workplace violence. The sort that worries me every time I hear of somebody being fired where I work. He shot the people in the room for his termination and then went around to shoot at anyone else he could.

      Obama did not call the Ft Hood attack “workplace violence”. That was the decision of the Dept. of Defense where some brilliant minds thought it would both protect the right of a fair trial for the killer, and save DoD money on survivor benefits. Which increase for combat related injuries and deaths.

      Obama’s failure, his real failure, was tolerating such crap for brains thinking at DoD. While he spoke of it being a terrorist attack he did not order the DoD to treat it as such. Which he could have and should have done the very moment it became known the killer was inspired by al Qaeda.

      Finally it was the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015 that corrected this. Congress wrote and Obama signed into law that this was a terror attack, that it was combat and afterwards Purple Hearts and other awards were given. As they should have been on day one.

  6. Agree with Cadeyrn, How could gun violence possibly occur in a state where ownership is so tightly restricted? Don’t the mental defectives and criminals of the state of Illinois know they are not supposed to have guns? How dare they!
    Sarcasm aside, let us pray for the victims and their families. So sad.

    • Prayers for the victims, everyone involved and our country.
      Of course only more anti gun laws are the answer! Keep passing more laws until The Prohibited Persons finally get the point; I mean, eventually they’ll get it, right?
      Unless, this is all driven by attorneys who take offense that legal firearm owners are cutting into their profits. Aren’t they anti2A and also proponents of more lenient sentencing?
      Huh? Nothing better than generating repeat customers, beats having to find new clients when your regulars are locked up.

      • NO GUNS LAWS ARE GOING TO WORK. PEOPLE KILL A GUN CANNOT PULL IT’S OWN TRIGGER IT TAKES A KILLED TO KILL. YOU CAN PUT A MILLION GUN LAWS OUT YOU THINK A KILLER CARES. NO HE WANTS TO KILL HE WILL AND HE PROBABLY CAN’T READ TO BEGIN WITH. AND GUN SHOPS ALL THEY WANT TO DO IS SELL A GUN AND MAKE A PROFIT. YOU THINK THEY CARE IF THAT PERSON HE JUST SOLD A GUN TO IS A MASS KILLER?

  7. Good the shooter is dead. When they live it costs us money and puts the family through an ordeal in the trial.
    These shooters should be dropped by LE if possible. Few would argue it was unwarranted.

  8. WE are sooooo effed in ILLinois. Get what you can now. Does it even matter if the dead shooter was a convicted felon?!? Or black? At least he didn’t have an AR…

    • Because these incidents effect the thought process of mush heads and politicians. Be prepared for the follow up.

  10. He’s a negro, so don’t expect his picture to be shown anywhere in the news, just like the guy who shot several white females dead in a mall up in IL a few years ago as well.

  12. You guys, I have a great idea. Let’s give this employee of 15 years who we know is a violent felon advance warning that he’s gonna be terminated on Friday, then sit him down in a firing meeting in the middle of a gun-free zone with no security or armed people to respond when he predictably becomes violent as he has demonstrated himself to be in the past!

    Simply asinine. I guess if it makes anyone feel better, the person responsible for this retardation was likely sitting in the meeting and was probably the first one to get shot in the face.

  13. ” Police believe he was an employee at Henry Pratt Co. in the industrial park in the Chicago suburb, and said they did not know the motive.”

    There may be a motive –

    Law enforcement is reporting the 45 year-old shooter, Gary Martin was informed he was being fired today, and at his ‘termination’ meeting, he produced a gun and started shooting.

    https://abc13.com/live–aurora-shooting-leaves-at-least-5-dead-multiple-wounded-including-officers;-gunman-also-dead/5140701/

  14. illinois may be one of those states like california where employers are banned by law from asking about prospective employees criminal backgrounds

  15. This would have never happened is Illinois required a background check to buy a firearm.

    Oops, they do, it called a FOIA card.

    But it still would have never happened if they required a permit to buy a gun

    Oops, Illinois does require a permit.

    But it still wouldn’t have happened if Illinois had a Red Flag law

    Oops, Illinois does have one

    Maybe it still wouldn’t have happened if they had a mandatory waiting period to purchase a firearm

    Oops, they have that too.

    Well, I am absolutely positive this could have been prevented if this workplace was a Gun Free Zone. They need to get on that immediately.

    • YOU REALLY BELIEVE IF IT WERE A GUN FREE ZONE THAT IT WOULD HAVE MATTERED. I DON’T THINK SO.
      HE WENT IN KNOWING HE WAS GOING TO SHOOT SOMEONE AND A SIGN SAYING THIS IS A GUN FREE ZONE WOULD HAVE STOPPED HIM. NO WAY. HE WENT IN WITH A GUN AND KILLING WAS ALL HE WAS INTERESTED IN DOING. PLUS HE HAD MADE UP HIS MIND IF HE GOT KILLED WELL THEN THAT WOULD DO HIM A FAVOR OF NOT HAVING TO DO IT HIM SELF.

  16. There is no such thing as “Gun Violence” No person, no animal has even once in all of human history been attacked by a gun. Inanimate objects could no more commit an act of violence than a fuzzy blanket can give you a hug.

    The commonplace inability to comprehend this simple truth stands as a massive wall between the scourge of human violence and any hope of preventing it.

    • The commonplace inability to comprehend this simple truth stands as a massive wall between the scourge of human violence and any hope of preventing it.

      That is a feature, not a bug!

      What makes you think that power players want to end human violence? They profit handsomely from human violence, which, unsurprisingly, never affects them.

  17. Come on, The DemoCommies are just trying to make it so “everyone” is defined as “untrustworthy” to exercise any Constitutional right…Especially, “WEAPONS” under the 2nd Amendment by reasoning it away by saying there’s a criminal potential hiding in everyone…Except Big Government….Hence the attacks on “Due Process…”

  18. I predicted a media blasted shooting the day after Valentine’s Day on Christmas Eve. It’s so predictable now. They’re really bad at it.

  19. I couldn’t find anywhere where it said what gun he used. I found one report that said he produced a S&W handgun.

    • DOES IT REALLY MATTER WHAT KIND OF GUN HE USED. 6 PEOPLE ARE DEAD. DO YOU THINK THEY CARED WHAT KIND OF GUN HE USED TO DO IT.? MAYBE IF PEOPLE HAD READ BETWEEN THE LINES MAYBE THEY WOULD HAVE SEEN IT COMING. THE MAN HAD A PROBLEM AND DIN’T KNOW HOW TO SOLVE IT BUT KILL SOMEONE AND GET HIMSELF KILLED SO HE WOULDN’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT. SORRY IT HAD TO BE INNOCENT PEOPLE THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS PROBLEM. GOD BLESS ALL THE POLICE THAT ARE IN THE HOSPITAL, SO SORRY FOR THE FAMILIES LEFT BEHIND TO DEAL WITH THE LOSSES.

  20. My thoughts and prayers for the victims and their loved ones.

    My bet is Illinois democrats will have a “high capacity” magazine bill proposal by early next week and will probably ban laser sighting, red dots, and might has well ban iron sights while they are at it as any such device is for the purpose of making the weapon more deadly.

    • Kind of like people under 21 who get their hands on alcohol. So what exactly is your point, if you make something illegal people will still do it?

        • The EDIT is there but only briefly. It times out in 5 minutes and vanishes if you do not catch an error right away.

          Some security settings can block it from showing. I use NoScript and have to enable more JAVA scripts to see the thing.

  24. I’M SO SICK OF THIS! WHEN IS EVERYONE GOING TO STAND UP AND SAY IT’S ENOUGH! AND LEARN FROM THE LAST TIME ! WE REALLY NEED A BAN, IT’S SO SIMPLE!
    BAN PEOPLE FROM NAMING TOWNS AND CITIES AURORA! EVERY TOWN WITH THAT NAME HAS SHOOTINGS!
    ALSO CONFISCATE ALL THE SIGNS ETC THAT HAVE IT WRITTEN ON THERE AND FORCE THEM TO REPLACE IT AT THEIR OWN COSTS!

  25. So the killer was a prohibited felon who got his FOID card and passed a background check to buy the gun. But was turned down for a concealed weapon permit because his fingerprint card came back showing he was a felon.

    So why didn’t the state police instantly send officers to his home? He was a felon in possession of a firearm, that is no minor crime. Instead they sent him a letter. A piece of snail mail. After that? Nothing?

    So what the hell happened with the first background check? Did he simply lie? Was the prior felony conviction not in the system? If not, then how did the fingerprint check later on catch it?

    I would have far less objection to background checks if they actually worked, if there were immediate responses to criminals trying to play the system and if serious efforts were made to enforce the existing laws. Since none of that is ever offered by the anti-gun side, I can only conclude that their interest is to reach an emotional happy place by doing something to make them feel “safe”.

    Similar to the security theater at airports. Anti-gun people feelling “safe” about guns is about satisfying an emotional need. A need that is devoid of all Reason, all deliberate intellectual thought upon problems, causes and effects.

    It’s about the “DO SOMETHING!!!” of a mind in panic.

    PANIC!!!!

  26. IT IS NOT THE WEAPON TO BLAME IT IS WHO’S HANDS IT IS IN THAT DOES THE KILLING. A GUN CANNOT PULL IT’S OWN TRIGGER IT NEEDS A SICK PERSONS FINGER TO PULL THE TRIGGER. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY BANS ONE PUTS ON GUNS IT WILL NOT HELP. IF A KILLER WANTS A GUN HE WILL GET ONE LEGAL OR ILLEGAL. I BELIEVE WHEN SOMEONE KILLS A PERSON AND THEY KNOW WHO DID IT SHOOT THAT SICKO ON THE SPOT. WHY PUT HIM OR HER IN PRISON FEED AND CLOTHE THAT PERSON THEN LET THEM OUT SO THEY CAN DO IT AGAIN. GET RID OF THEM ON THE SPOT. OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS SO SCREWED UP AND WE HAVE SO MANY CROOKED JUDGES WHO WILL TAKE A PAY OFF TO LET THE KILLER OFF. I SAY GATHER UP ALL THE REALLY BAD KILLERS AND RAPIST IN PRISONS AROUND THE COUNTRY AND DIG A BIG HOLE AND DUMP THEM IN IT AND FILL THE HOLE WITH ROCKS. NO MORE MR. NICE GUYS WE KNOW IT DOESN’T WORK. 99% ARE ILLEGALS AND DIDN’T BELONG HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

  27. From The Washington Post:
    “Aside from his felony, Martin had been arrested six times by Aurora police on traffic and domestic violence issues. He was arrested most recently, in 2017, by police in nearby Oswego, Ill., for disorderly conduct and damage to property, authorities said.”

    Yeah, once again, missed opportunities to stop a killer.

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