CHICAGO _ Upon learning he was being fired from his job at an Aurora warehouse, Gary Martin announced "We're done here" and began shooting the participants in his termination hearing, an attorney for one of the victims said Friday.
Union steward Timothy Williams _ who attended the meeting to ensure that Martin's employment rights were being protected after he was accused of pulling foam off safety goggles _ was shot in the right arm as he tried to escape the conference room. Williams eventually made it out when Martin paused his gunfire, presumably to reload.
Once he fled the room, Williams began running through the warehouse to warn his co-workers, said David Rapoport, Williams' attorney.
"He told everyone, 'Gary is shooting. Get out of the building,'" Rapoport said.
Martin, 45, caught up with Williams in the warehouse and seemed surprised to find him there.
"You're still alive?" Martin asked, according to Rapoport.
Martin then fired two shots into Williams' upper back.
Rapoport's account provides the most detailed narrative to date of the Feb. 15 shooting at Henry Pratt Co. in which five people were killed and six police officers injured. Williams, who was seated close to the conference room door, survived his injuries, though he still has two bullets lodged his back and a bone in his right arm was completely shattered.
Martin died in a shootout with police.
The victims were shot with a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun that Martin _ a felon _ had been erroneously allowed to buy because his previous conviction had not been entered into a federal database that the Illinois State Police relies upon for criminal background checks.
Williams, who is still recovering from his injuries at home, filed a lawsuit Friday against the Illinois State Police, accusing the agency of negligence for giving Martin a firearm license and then not doing enough to retrieve his gun after the mistake was discovered.
He is seeking $2 million.
"The claimant has experienced, and will experience, pain, suffering, disability, loss of a normal life, medical expenses, lost earnings and a loss of earning capacity, all because of the injuries suffered due to the ISP's negligence," the lawsuit states. "Many of claimant's losses are permanent."
The Illinois State Police declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy against discussing pending litigation.
Williams did not know that officials at Henry Pratt Co. intended to fire Martin when he was summoned to the disciplinary hearing that Friday, Rapoport said. Martin had been accused of pulling foam off of safety googles, which some find uncomfortable to wear while working in the warehouse.
Martin had been belligerent throughout the meeting, but no one in the conference room saw the gun until he pulled it out and began firing, Rapoport said.
Williams _ a father of four who lives in the Aurora area _ survived because of his closeness to the conference room door and his determination to get out of warehouse alive, his lawyer said.
"He prayed and he found the strength to get out of the building," Rapoport said.
Neither a spokesman for the Aurora Police Department nor a spokeswoman for Henry Pratt Co. could be reached for comment on Rapoport's account.
Since the shooting, the Illinois State Police has released dozens of records that expose significant weaknesses with both state law and federal databases used to screen firearm purchases. In making the documents public, state police issued a clear warning that the ultimately catastrophic flaws in the Aurora case could happen again without reforms.
Records show Martin applied for a firearm owner's identification card, commonly referred to as a FOID card, in January 2014, checking the "No" box when asked if he had ever been convicted of a felony or a domestic violence offense. In truth, Martin had been convicted of felony aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995 for stabbing his then-girlfriend and beating her with a baseball bat.
The conviction made Martin ineligible for a FOID card, but state police approved his application after he passed a background check that included at least five Illinois-centric and five federal databases, agency records show. He passed a second background check in March 2014 when he purchased from a local gun dealer the Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun used in the mass killing.
Records show the Mississippi conviction was never entered into the national databases, which were designed to make sure criminal histories are accessible to law enforcement agencies across the country.
In Martin's case, federal databases failed to show his felony conviction until nearly a week after the shooting, state police said.
State police discovered Martin's Mississippi conviction only after he agreed to be fingerprinted in March 2014 to expedite the processing of his concealed carry license application. Illinois does not require fingerprinting to obtain either a FOID or a concealed carry license.
After learning of the omission in Martin's background check, the ISP said it notified both Martin and the Aurora Police Department in April 2014 that he was no longer able to possess a gun. He was given 48 hours to find a qualified owner for his weapon or relinquish it to local authorities, as well as submit to Aurora police a Firearm Disposition Record documenting his actions.
Aurora officials have said they have no record of receiving the ISP's revocation notice and, even if they did, the department had no legal obligation to confiscate the gun. State law, however, does allow local law enforcement to obtain a search warrant to retrieve a revoked FOID holder's weapons.
The Illinois State Police does not have copies of revocation notices sent to local police departments in 2014 because the agency only preserved those records for three years, according to the agency. It did provide a copy of Martin's revocation letter, telling him to give up his gun.
Williams is not suing the Aurora Police Department, which could have sought a search warrant to retrieve Martin's gun. Rapoport said there is no evidence that Aurora ever received the notification.
"I'm not sure they (ISP) ever properly revoked him," Rapoport said. "Administratively, it looks like the ball was dropped."
State police said an "exhaustive search" failed to turn up Martin's returned FOID card or a document detailing how he had relinquished his handgun. It's an unsurprising result, given that the vast majority of people ignore their revocation notices, state statistics show.
In 2018, 10,818 FOID cards were revoked, according to state police. Only 2,616 Firearm Disposition Records were returned, meaning more than 75 percent of those with revoked licenses ignored the order.
The lawsuit contends state police should have been more diligent when researching Martin's background and then again when revoking his FOID card.
"Mr. Martin would have never possessed the firearm he used at the Henry Pratt Company mass shooting had the Illinois State Police properly followed and implemented their internal protocols intended to keep firearms out of the hands of citizens who meet certain criteria deemed by the legislature in the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act to be unfit for ownership of a firearm," the lawsuit states.
In the shooting's wake, the Illinois State Police announced a sweeping list of changes aimed at making it harder for people to keep guns after losing their right to own or carry a firearm in Illinois.
The changes _ described by the agency as "first steps" _ deal with how FOID cards are revoked, how owners' guns are seized and how records are kept and shared. State police also will start providing local law enforcement with a list of firearms purchased by people whose cards have been revoked.
Lawmakers also have pushed for reforms following the shooting. Illinois congressmen last week asked the FBI to address the flawed national databases that allowed Martin to buy the gun he used to kill his co-workers.
And state Sen. Michael Hastings, a Tinley Park Democrat, filed legislation this week that would require the Illinois State Police to confiscate someone's firearm owner's identification card, firearms and ammunition when his or her FOID card is revoked. The agency also would be required to report the person to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System within 15 business days.
Five people were killed in the Aurora shooting: Clayton Parks, 32, of Elgin; Trevor Wehner, 21, of Sheridan.; Russell Beyer, 47, of Yorkville; Vicente Juarez, 54, of Oswego; and Josh Pinkard, 37, of Oswego. Six Aurora police officers were injured.
