Aurora shooter not supposed to possess a firearm after felony conviction

Aurora, Ill. -- On Friday afternoon, a man [we'll simply call him Dickweed] opened fire on employees at the Henry Pratt Company after being told during a meeting that his job had been terminated.

Dickweed then pulled out his illegal handgun and killed five of his co-workers and later injured five police officers.

According to Aurora Deputy Police Chief Keefe Jackson, within five minutes of the first 911 call, officers arrived on the scene, and at approximately 2:59 p.m. local time, the suspect was shot and killed following a brief exchange of gunfire.

At a Saturday press conference, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman revealed that Dickweed had been arrested previously on six separate occasions by the Aurora PD, "including arrests for traffic and domestic battery-related issues."

He was last arrested by the department "in 2008 for violating an order of protection." However, he was most recently arrested "in 2017 by the Oswego, Illinois Police Department for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property."

The suspect obtained a Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card in January 2014. Two months later, he purchased a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun.

"During the finger-printing and background process" for a conceal and carry permit, "it was discovered that [Dickweed] had a felony conviction for aggravated assault out of Mississippi," Ziman stated.

She also said:

"The date of that conviction was August 3, 1995. It should be noted that this conviction would not necessarily have shown up on a criminal background check conducted for a FOID card. Once this felony conviction was discovered, the offender's conceal and carry permit was rejected, and his FOID card was revoked by the Illinois State Police.

A reporter asked Chief Ziman: "Does the series of events relating to the gun license and the revocation of his FOID card mean that he was in illegal possession of that gun?"

She replied: "That is absolutely correct, yes."

The same reporter then asked if authorities should have confiscated the suspect’s firearm after his FOID card was revoked, to which Ziman replied:

"That's what we are determining right now as part of our investigation ... absolutely he was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm. ... After a FOID card revocation, the subject is provided a letter stating that they need to relinquish their firearms, and we're looking into why that did not happen."

According to Chief Ziman, four of the five injured police officers suffered gunshot wounds to various limbs, and one was hit with shrapnel. As of the press conference, two officers were being treated and were in stable condition, while the other three had been treated and released, or were expected to be released.

The investigation is ongoing and I will bring you updates as they come. Meanwhile, wait for the left to make this a gun-control issue rather than the failure of a proper authority to proactively confiscate the illegal weapon.

I hope you'll follow Brain Flushings and have a few laughs while you get a conservative viewpoint. Politics is the new NFL without the mindless kneeling and this blog will both inform you and hopefully entertain you bigly.

Tweet