Aurora shooter terminated for \'workplace rules violations\'

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) Scott Hall, the CEO of Mueller Water Products, said on Saturday that the Aurora shooter Gary Martin, who killed five co-workers at Henry Pratt Company, had been terminated from his job prior to the shooting for 'various workplace rules violations'.

Hall also said that in the background check that was conducted on Martin fifteen years ago when he was hired his 1995 felony conviction did not show up.

Mueller Water Products is the parent company of Henry Pratt.

Martin, 45, armed himself with a handgun, which he owned illegally, before reporting for a meeting on Friday at the Henry Pratt Company where his employment was terminated, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters.

He was later killed in a shootout with SWAT-team officers who stormed the sprawling plant 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago.

Martin had bought the gun he used, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with a laser sight, in 2014 before authorities realized he had a prior felony conviction, Ziman said.

"The fact remains that some disgruntled person walked in and had access to a firearm that he shouldn't have had access to," Ziman said at the news conference.

Investigators were seeking to determine why Martin was not forced to relinquish his gun before the shooting, Ziman said.

He should have been barred from owning a handgun because he had a 1995 conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.

He also had several prior arrests in Illinois, Ziman said, including for suspicion of domestic violence and criminal damage to property.