ASSOCIATED PRESS
AURORA, ILLINOIS — The Latest on the mass shooting at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says his administration is reviewing how the gunman who killed five co-workers at a suburban Chicago business had a weapon despite a felony conviction.
Gary Martin’s Firearm Owners’ Identification card was revoked in 2014 after authorities discovered a 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi. But it prompted only a letter to the 45-year-old Martin ordering him to surrender his weapons.
Pritzker said Tuesday that his staff is examining the “problem that’s apparent in the system of retrieving firearms from people whose FOID cards are voided.”
The Democrat says that “my entire team is focused on it, has been all weekend.”
He offered no details but says he would work with lawmakers to tighten the system.
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3:40 p.m.
The police chief of a suburban Chicago community says she’ll never again speak the name of a man who fatally shot five co-workers at a local business.
After Friday’s killings, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin “was being terminated” before he started shooting at Henry Pratt Co.
But Ziman said in a Tuesday posting on her department’s Facebook page that, “I said his name one time for the media, and I will never let it cross my lips again.”
Five police officers were also shot and wounded during a Friday shootout in which Martin was killed.
Ziman’s Facebook post later referenced Martin, saying “that evil soul shouldn’t have taken others down because he was angry. He shouldn’t have even had a weapon. Lives shouldn’t have been stolen.”
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12:35 p.m.
Illinois State Police say a man who fatally shot five people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse lied about his criminal history in 2014 to obtain a card from the agency that allowed him to purchase a handgun.
State police say 45-year-old Gary Martin answered “no” to a question on his January 2014 application for a Firearm Owner’s Identification card about whether he’d ever been convicted of a felony.
Police said Monday that a records search “revealed no prohibiting factors” in Martin’s Illinois criminal history. His card was approved on Jan. 31, 2014. He then purchased a handgun in March 2014 after clearing another background check.
Police said they later discovered that Martin had a felony conviction in Mississippi after his fingerprints revealed an FBI record when he applied for a concealed carry license later in March 2014.
Martin died in a shootout with police Friday after he killed five co-workers and wounded six other people.
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10:19 a.m.
Relatives of the man who fatally shot five people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse are offering their condolences to the victims’ families, saying “we deeply apologize” for the killings.
Forty-five-year-old Gary Martin died Friday in a shootout with police after he killed five co-workers and wounded five police officers at the Henry Pratt Co. facility in Aurora, Illinois.
Martin’s cousin Jesseca Clemons tells The (Aurora) Beacon-News her family “would like to send our deepest apologies to all the victims’ families, friends and loved ones.” She says her family is “praying for everyone” and asks for prayers as well.
Clemons says Martin’s mother is grieving for her son and is asking everyone to “find it in their hearts to find forgiveness” so her family and others can move forward.
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