Aurora Shooting Suspect Was A Disgruntled Employee Who Was Fired That Day

Gary Martin, 45, the suspected gunman in the Aurora Mass shooting had a history of violence that should’ve prevented him from even purchasing a gun. 

The disgruntled employee who fatally shot five people and wounded five officers at an Illinois warehouse Friday, severely beat a woman with a baseball bat, years ago in a domestic violence incident that turned him into a felon. 

He was convicted of aggravated assault in Mississippi two decades ago.

Authorities, in that case, said he regularly abused a former girlfriend, and at one point, he beat her with a baseball bat and stabbed her with a knife. 

That incident led to Martin’s arrest. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison, though records show he served less than three years. 

He later moved to Aurora, where he spent 15 years working at a warehouse. Somehow, despite his felony record, he was then able to buy a gun, and, on Friday, after his termination- he erupted in violence again. 

Authorities in the Chicago suburb said Martin was called into a meeting at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse- where he was told that he was being fired. After that meeting, he began shooting, killing the three employees who were in the meeting with him and two other employees who were nearby.  Among the dead was an intern, who had been on his first day of work at the company. 

Investigators were not clear on why Martin had been fired or if he knew he was going to be fired beforehand. 

Cops said that Martin showed up to the warehouse with a Smith & Wesson handgun he was carrying illegally.