Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Looking out Tuesday at a crowd of Aurora firefighters, police officers, and city officials, Aurora Historical Society executive director John Jaros spoke the names written on five white crosses.
Russell Beyer. Clayton Parks. Vicente Juarez. Trevor Wehner. Josh Pinkard. The crosses were presented in the same order as when the late Greg “The Cross Man” Zanis first put them up at the Henry Pratt Co. factory where, on Feb. 15, 2019, an attacker shot those men to death.
The details of the shooting were not mentioned. The shooter was in a disciplinary meeting with Pinkard, the plant manager; Beyer, union chairman; Parks, human resources manager; Wehner, a human resources intern; and a union steward. He shot them, left the room and shot Juarez. He shot five police officers before being killed.
The crosses will be displayed through February at the David L. Pierce Art and History Center.
The Illinois State Police announced Tuesday that, as a result of changes made after the shooting, they have reduced the backlog of unanalyzed firearms-owning prohibition information by 97%. The news release said state police prevented 25,000 attempts to illegally obtain a firearm in 2021. It also said it revoked 70% more FOID cards in 2021 than it had in 2019.
The Aurora shooter had an FOID, but should not have, because he had been convicted of a violent felony in another state. ISP discovered that fact when the shooter applied for a concealed-carry license, and says it notified the man to turn in his guns.
