2019 Aurora, Illinois shooting

On February 15, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at the Henry Pratt Company manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois. The first reports reached authorities at 1:24 p.m., and the first officers arrived within four minutes. Witnesses reported seeing the shooter carrying a handgun fitted with a green laser sight. The incident prompted a multi-agency law enforcement response, including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service, alongside local police. The shooter exchanged gunfire with law enforcement for approximately 90 minutes before officers reported at 2:59 p.m. that he had been shot and killed, struck a total of six times, including a shot to the forehead.

Five plant workers were killed: 32-year-old human resources manager Clayton Parks, 37-year-old plant manager Josh Pinkard, 46-year-old mold operator Russell Beyer, 54-year-old stock room attendant and forklift operator Vicente Juarez, and 21-year-old Trevor Wehner, a Northern Illinois University student who was on his first day as a human resources intern. A sixth plant employee was hospitalized with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Six police officers, ranging in age from 23 to 59, were also injured — four by gunshot, one by shrapnel, and one from a non-gunshot injury sustained while responding — none of which were life-threatening.

The perpetrator was identified as Gary Montez Martin, a 45-year-old former Henry Pratt employee born April 28, 1973, and raised in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He had been released from his position at the company roughly two weeks before the shooting according to relatives, though other reporting indicated he was being fired on the day of the shooting and that the attack began during the termination meeting. Martin had a 1995 felony aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi, for which he served two-and-a-half years in prison, making him legally barred from possessing a firearm in Illinois. He also had six prior arrests with the Aurora Police Department, including for domestic violence and violating a restraining order, plus a 2017 arrest in Oswego, Illinois for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

Despite his felony record, Martin was issued an Illinois Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) card in 2014 and used it to purchase a gun from a licensed Aurora dealer that March. When he later applied for a concealed carry license, a fingerprint check revealed his felony conviction; the Illinois State Police rejected the application, cancelled his FOID card, and demanded he surrender the gun, which he did not do.

A search of Martin's home after the shooting initially found no evidence of advance planning, but further investigation revealed he had made threats before being fired, reportedly telling a coworker, "If I get fired, I'm going to kill every motherfucker in here" and "I am going to blow police up." The coworker who heard these remarks did not report them, saying Martin made such comments regularly. On May 1, 2019, it was reported that Martin had entered the workplace intending to open fire.

Public officials, including Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, Governor J.B. Pritzker, President Donald Trump, and Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin, responded with statements thanking law enforcement and offering condolences to victims' families.