Second check found conviction involving stabbing of ex-girlfriend which led to loss of permit but gun was not handed to police

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The man who shot and killed five people and wounded six at an Illinois business on Friday passed an initial background check that failed to detect a felony conviction that should have stopped him buying the gun.

Aurora police name five victims killed in shooting by dismissed worker Read more

Later, a second background check of Gary Martin found a 1995 aggravated assault conviction in Mississippi involving the stabbing of an ex-girlfriend.

It prompted a letter stating his gun permit had been revoked and ordering him to hand his firearm to police. He did not.

A vigil for the victims of the shooting, among them a university student who was on his first day as an intern and a longtime plant manager, was scheduled for Sunday in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago.

Police identified those killed as Henry Pratt Company human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mold operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; stock room attendant and fork lift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego; and Trevor Wehner, the new intern.

A Northern Illinois University student who lived in DeKalb and grew up in Sheridan, Wehner, 21, was on the dean’s list at NIU’s business college and was on track to graduate in May with a degree in human resource management.

The gunman, 45, was killed in a shootout with officers.

His state gun license permit was revoked in 2014, Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said on Saturday. But he never gave up the .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun he used in the attack.

Investigators are still trying to determine what exactly law enforcement agencies did after that letter was sent, Ziman said.

Illinois lawmakers who support gun control pointed to a flaw in a 1968 law that requires residents who want to buy firearms or ammunition to get a Firearm Owner’s Identification or FOID card, a process that requires a background check but does not mandate that police ensure weapons have been removed if a red flag is raised later.

Legislation was introduced in 2016 to require police go to the homes of gun owners who have FOID cards revoked and search for weapons, but it failed over concerns it would overtax police departments, said Democratic state representative Kathleen Willis, who wants to see a similar measure introduced again.

“Let’s use some common sense,” Willis said. “If you have someone with a felony, obviously they are not the best law-abiding citizens who are going to follow through when they get the letter and go, ‘Oh yeah, here’s my gun, no problem.’

“We have to have oversight. That’s the biggest flaw in the whole system. We’re asking people who already have done something wrong to do something right.”

The Aurora gunman was arrested six times for what Ziman described as “traffic and domestic battery-related issues” and for violating an order of protection.

After an initial background check failed to detect his felony conviction, he was given a FOID card. He bought the Smith & Wesson handgun on 11 March 2014. Five days after that he applied for a concealed carry permit. That background check, which used digital fingerprinting, did flag his Mississippi felony conviction and led the Illinois state police to revoke his permit.

Records stemming from his 1995 conviction in Mississippi described an extremely violent man who abused a former girlfriend, at one point hitting her with a baseball bat and stabbing her with a knife, the Washington Post reported.

After serving less than three years, he moved to Illinois and landed a job at Henry Pratt, a maker of industrial valves. The conviction was not detected in a company background check.

Authorities said the gunman began shooting right after hearing he was being fired from his job of 15 years, over various workplace violations. The company has not given details on what they were.

He killed three people in the room with him and two others outside, Ziman said. Martin also wounded a sixth worker, who is expected to survive.

After wounding five police officers, Martin hid in the back of the building. About an hour later, officers killed him in an exchange of gunfire, police said. All the wounded officers are expected to live.