US gunman kills 5, wounds 5 in Illinois

International Desk: A 15-year employee being fired from a manufacturing company opened fire in its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police said.

Aurora, Ill., police chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. — which makes valves for industrial purposes — in the city about 65 kilometres west of Chicago.

She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.

Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Police said they did not know the gunman's motive.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst said he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street about 2 kilometres from the shooting, neighbours gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.

Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.

Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mother's Aurora neighbourhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom on Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.

Agencies


risingbd/Dhaka/Feb 16, 2019/Nasim