Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A gunman opened fire Friday in a building in an industrial area of Aurora, Ill., killing five people and injuring multiple people, including police officers, local officials said.
Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said in addition to the five victim deaths, the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, died.
Among the injured were six police officers, including five who were shot and one who sustained a knee injury. Five were transported to local hospitals, two of whom were flown to Chicago-area trauma centers.
"There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams and their futures," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during an evening news conference.
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Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin called it a sad day in the city and lamented the number of mass shootings in the United States.
"The horrible feeling that we get when we see [mass shootings] in the news, to experience it firsthand is even more painful," he said.
"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this has become commonplace in our country."
Both Pritzker and Irvin praised the actions of law enforcement for their response to the active shooting at Henry Pratt Co.
"We must never forget those police officers ... who put themselves in harms way," Irvin said.
Police said they believed Martin was an employee at Henry Pratt Co., which manufactures valves.
The residential area surrounding the industrial park where the shooting took place was blocked off with multiple emergency vehicles belonging to the Aurora Police Department, the Kane County Sheriff's Office, DuPage County Sheriff's Office, state police and local fire departments staged nearby, The Beacon-News in Aurora reported. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the scene.
West Aurora School District 129 held all students in the district in place, changing afternoon dismissal schedules pending the resolution of the active shooting.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and was monitoring developments as he traveled to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.
