CHICAGO: A man being fired from his job shot dead five co-workers at a factory on the outskirts of Chicago and wounded five police officers before being gunned down himself, in America’s latest mass shooting.

The incident took place at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, a suburb 65 kilometres west of Chicago, the country’s third-largest city.

Police named the suspect as Gary Martin, 45, of Aurora. He was a 15-year employee of the company and “information that we have indicates that he was being terminated today”, said Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.

The shooting came the day after Nancy Pelosi, the powerful speaker of the House of Representatives, said gun violence was a “national emergency” far more real than the emergency President Donald Trump declared on Friday to build his wall at the Mexican border.

Police Chief Ziman did not have further details about why Martin was being fired, whether the killing was pre-meditated, or whether the victims were involved in his dismissal.

“Five employees were located deceased inside the building,” and preliminary reports indicated they were killed before police arrived, she told reporters.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2019