Gunman in Aurora, Illinois, shooting described as 'loner'

[rooster59]

Gunman in Aurora, Illinois, shooting described as 'loner'

 

An aerial photo of police and emergency vehicles parked in a lot adjacent to a warehouse at the scene of a mass shooting involving multiply casualties in Aurora, Illinois, U.S., February 15, 2019. Bev Horne/Daily Herald/via REUTERS

 

(Reuters) - When Gary Martin came to work at the Henry Pratt valve manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday, he was told he was being terminated from his job. Shortly thereafter, Martin pulled out his Smith & Wesson revolver and opened fire.

 

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Martin shot six fellow employees, five of them fatally, at the sprawling warehouse where he had worked for 15 years, and wounded five police officers before he was slain by police 90 minutes later.

 

She said police had yet to determine whether the shooting was an impulsive act or premeditated, and that investigators had not immediately ascertained why he had been fired.

 

She said police were executed a search warrant at his residence to further their investigation of what she called a "workplace shooting."

 

Jeremy Sherman, a neighbor of Martin's at Acorn Woods Condominium Complex in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago, told Newsweek's Daily Beast website that Martin could often be found outside playing with his remote-control toy cars and drones.

 

Sherman described his neighbor as a loner with whom he sometimes chatted without ever learning anything about Martin's work life or his past. Sherman said he never saw Martin with weapons - or with guests.

 

"He kept to himself a lot, and he was always on his porch," he told the Daily Beast. "Even when he wasn't doing nothing, he'd be out there sitting. I'd be out there, sometimes one, two [o'clock] in the morning and he'd be there just sitting all in the dark, [in the] shadows."

 

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

 

Martin's mother told the Chicago Sun-Times that her son had been "way too stressed out" recently.

 

Public records showed Martin had a criminal past, a 1995 conviction for aggravated assault in Marshall County, Mississippi.

 

Aurora Police Chief Ziman said authorities did not know if he had legally purchased the gun he used. Convicted felons are barred from buying firearms.

 

A fellow employee and eyewitness John Probst told CNN that Martin fired his pistol with a green laser sight at fellow workers. "What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," he said.

 

The shooting came a day after the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 17 people by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-02-17

[Samui Bodoh]

"...Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Martin shot six fellow employees, five of them fatally, at the sprawling warehouse where he had worked for 15 years, and wounded five police officers before he was slain by police 90 minutes later..."

 

And, what will the US do to prevent this kind of thing from happening again?

 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

A year and a day after some whacko killed all those highschool kids at Parkland in Florida, what has changed?

 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

 

It is a truly terrible thing to say, but all they will do is reset the clock and wait for the next mass shooting.

 

My sincere apologies to saner Americans, but the US has become a diseased society that won't take action against mass shootings.

 

Well done.

 

It makes you proud to be an American, right?

 

Jesus wept.

 

 

[Lacessit]

I suppose describing the perpetrator as a loner serves to distinguish him from someone acting in concert, in which case it would be described as terrorism.

The usual things will happen. From the President down, thoughts and prayers will be with the victims, while the same politicians accept funding and influence from the armaments lobby and NRA. Gun sales will spike upwards. The examples set by other countries in terms of gun control will be ignored or rationalised away.

 

[Tug]

Now there IS a national emergency for real give the cops the power to take the guns away from the nut cases it’s tragic that Donald can wip up hatred against immigrants but ignore this epidemic of gun violence

[Odysseus123]

9 minutes ago, Tug said:

Now there IS a national emergency for real give the cops the power to take the guns away from the nut cases it’s tragic that Donald can wip up hatred against immigrants but ignore this epidemic of gun violence

"We have met the nutcases and they are us."

 

The real dream..

 

 

[Bluespunk]

1 hour ago, rooster59 said:

The shooting came a day after the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 17 people by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Yo, trump...now this is what a national emergency looks like. 

 

Gun crime is epidemic, going to do something about it or are you too scared of the gun lobby’s reaction?

[mikebike]

4 minutes ago, guest879 said:

gun crime has been on a downward trend in American for decades. a licensing system could possibly reduce this even further. the scare mongering from the media and knee jerk silly gun laws are counter productive.

 

[Chomper Higgot]

7 minutes ago, guest879 said:

gun crime has been on a downward trend in American for decades. a licensing system could possibly reduce this even further. the scare mongering from the media and knee jerk silly gun laws are counter productive.

Easily bunked hogwash.

 

Lock and load some facts:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/gun-deaths.html

[Prissana Pescud]

Mass shootings in US is hardly news anymore.

It is like seeing dog <deleted> on someones lawn.

So common.

And most US citizens see it as something you need to get used to. Like flies or mosquitoes.

They cannot sense that anyone may still be able to own a weapon After proper checks are done to determine sanity and needs.

Ask any other person from a country that has gun laws and little gun violence.

But it is a form of expensive population control. 

[Prissana Pescud]

Gun control is "unlikely to happen" said a representative of the undertakers guild.

"We would be up in arms about it"

[Prissana Pescud]

2 hours ago, mikebike said:

 

The under reported facts in this graph show how many suicides are occurring due to gun ownership.

An interesting stat occurred in Australia after stricter gun laws were enforced about 20 years ago.

Suicides dropped. Mostly men were able to sober up and reflect when no gun was available.

And hopefully seek treatment.

 

[IAMHERE]

Illinois has some of the most draconian gun laws of any of the United States States. Gun laws don't work. 

[Spidey]

9 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Illinois has some of the most draconian gun laws of any of the United States States. Gun laws don't work. 

In both Australia and the UK, real gun laws were introduced after both countries suffered mass shootings. There's never been a mass shooting, in either country since.

 

In the UK, we have suffered from a number of terrorist attacks in recent years. Not once has a terrorist used or even been in possession of a gun.

 

Gun laws most definitely do work.

[faraday]

Really....??

[Bluespunk]

25 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Illinois has some of the most draconian gun laws of any of the United States States. Gun laws don't work. 

I think we have a different definition of draconian. 

[BritManToo]

8 hours ago, Bluespunk said:

Yo, trump...now this is what a national emergency looks like. 

 

Gun crime is epidemic, going to do something about it or are you too scared of the gun lobby’s reaction?

Killer was a convicted criminal, not allowed to own guns.

Passing another law wouldn't have changed anything, it's easy for a criminal to get a gun, anywhere in the world.

[samran]

10 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I suppose describing the perpetrator as a loner serves to distinguish him from someone acting in concert, in which case it would be described as terrorism.

The usual things will happen. From the President down, thoughts and prayers will be with the victims, while the same politicians accept funding and influence from the armaments lobby and NRA. Gun sales will spike upwards. The examples set by other countries in terms of gun control will be ignored or rationalised away.

 

I thought this is how you distinguished the terrorists. 

 

 

[samran]

14 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Killer was a convicted criminal, not allowed to own guns.

Passing another law wouldn't have changed anything, it's easy for a criminal to get a gun, anywhere in the world.

Partly, but they are more expensive. Nothing like the free market to ration goods. 

 

At the moment in the US they are relatively cheap and extremely plentiful. 

[Spidey]

25 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Killer was a convicted criminal, not allowed to own guns.

Passing another law wouldn't have changed anything, it's easy for a criminal to get a gun, anywhere in the world.

Not easy in the UK. Virtually impossible.

[Bluespunk]

57 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Killer was a convicted criminal, not allowed to own guns.

Passing another law wouldn't have changed anything, it's easy for a criminal to get a gun, anywhere in the world.

The gun laws are no where near harsh enough. 

 

Guns are all too easily available. 

 

The fact that this criminal, banned from owning guns, managed to do so, is proof of that. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Bluespunk said:

The gun laws are no where near harsh enough. 

Gun laws only stop law abiding citizens from owning guns.

Criminals don't care about the law, pass as many and as extreme laws as you like, they will still have guns.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Spidey said:

Not easy in the UK. Virtually impossible.

Don't be silly, even I had one in the UK.

[Bluespunk]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Gun laws only stop law abiding citizens from owning guns.

Criminals don't care about the law, pass as many and as extreme laws as you like, they will still have guns.

Let’s pass them and see, eh. 

[Spidey]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Don't be silly, even I had one in the UK.

Not any more. 5 years for possession. A very serious offence.

 

Watched a documentary recently. It was called "Gun 6".  Apparently there are only 12 guns known to be in the possession of criminals in the UK. The police have numbered them 1-12. The documentary followed the trail of gun 6. Got passed around for years between individuals and gangs.

 

Unfortunately, the fall in gun crime has given way to a massive increase in knife crime.

 

In the past, the weapon of choice for armed robberies was the shotgun, now it's the knife. The number of bank robberies has dropped by 90% in the last 10 years.

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Unfortunately, the fall in gun crime has given way to a massive increase in knife crime.

I always preferred a sword, I always have a couple lying around.

Much more useful for the Zombie Apocalypse. 

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

I always preferred a sword, I always have a couple lying around.

Much more useful for the Zombie Apocalypse. 

I've always preferred the pork sword. Invaluable.

[JAG]

3 hours ago, IAMHERE said:

Illinois has some of the most draconian gun laws of any of the United States States. Gun laws don't work. 

So he probably obtained it and brought it from somewhere where they are as easy to buy as a packet of smarties... 

 

Gun laws work in the UK and USA because they are universally applied, from Penzance to Thurso, and Hobart to Darwin!

 

Golly, I just surprised myself with my knowledge of Australian geography! 

????

[chickenslegs]

28 minutes ago, JAG said:

So he probably obtained it and brought it from somewhere where they are as easy to buy as a packet of smarties... 

 

Gun laws work in the UK and USA because they are universally applied, from Penzance to Thurso, and Hobart to Darwin!

 

Golly, I just surprised myself with my knowledge of Australian geography! 

????

Unfortunately, you spoiled it with this ...

Quote

Gun laws work in the UK and USA

????

[JAG]

13 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Martin shot six fellow employees, five of them fatally, at the sprawling warehouse where he had worked for 15 years, and wounded five police officers before he was slain by police 90 minutes later.

 

She said police had yet to determine whether the shooting was an impulsive act or premeditated, and that investigators had not immediately ascertained why he had been fired.

 

 

Well, fitting a revolver with a laser sight, and taking it to work with you, rather suggests a  degree of premeditation. 

 

There is only one reason for a weapon thus modified - to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible; nothing to do with sport or hunting. As long as the USA continues to regard the possession of such military style weapons by private individuals as acceptable then they will continue to suffer such shootings, and that means that innocent people will continue to die to appease the gun w******s. 

[JAG]

8 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

Unfortunately, you spoiled it with this ...

????

Yes, did rather come back to bite me on the bum didn't it!