me.”

Gunman began shooting after learning he was fired

Authorities said Martin brought a pistol to his termination meeting at the plant and started shooting when he found out he’d been fired.

After fatally shooting people in the room at the manufacturing business where he’d worked for 15 years, he stormed into the warehouse, witnesses said. There, he shot at more employees.

The rampage lasted about 90 minutes before police killed him in a shootout.

The gunman did not legally own the pistol he used in the attack, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference Saturday.

A background check for a concealed-carry permit in 2014 had flagged a conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995, she said, and he had been asked to voluntarily surrender the weapon to police, Zimansaid.

Why he didn’t will be part of the investigation of the incident, the police chief said.

Josh Pinkard, of Oswego, Illinois, was the plant manager. He joined the company 13 years ago at a facility in Alabama and moved to Aurora last spring, according to a letter to employees from Scott Hall, the CEO of Mueller Water Products, which owned the Henry Pratt Co.

Clayton Parks of Elgin, Illinois, was the human resources manager. He was an alumnus of Northern Illinois University, the school’s president said in a statement. He graduated in 2014 from the College of Business.

Trevor Wehner of Sheridan, Illinois, was a human resources intern and a student at Northern Illinois University. Friday was his first day as an intern at the company, according to the school president’s