21-year-old Aurora victim was at the first day of his internship

It was his first day of work, a chance for the strapping young college intern to learn how companies deal with their employees.

Trevor Wehner, 21, a student at Northern Illinois University, showed up Friday and got pulled into a meeting with supervisors at a warehouse of the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, Illinois, which makes valves for water treatment equipment and power generators.

They had an unpleasant task. They intended to fire a worker.

Wehner, who was set to graduate in May with a degree in human resource management, had never met Gary Martin.

But he watched as Martin was told he’d been let go, according to Wehner’s family friend Cindy Lou, who said on Facebook that he “sat in and observed the termination.”

Moments later, Martin pulled out a Smith & Wesson 40-caliber revolver and shot and killed Wehner and two other workers in the room, then took out two more employees nearby, according to police.

The other victims were Clayton Parks, Russell Beyer, Vicente Juarez and Josh Pinkard, they said.

Martin also wounded five cops with his handgun before he was killed following a brief firefight with police. The incident lasted from 1:24 p.m., when the first 911 was made, till Martin was killed at 2:59 p.m

He didn’t have a license to carry the weapon.

The officers are expected to survive.

“I love you so much bro,” Wehner’s brother Thomas wrote in a touching Facebook post.

“I remember all the times we would fight but no matter what happened I still loved you. Rest easy big bro. I’m so proud of you. I’ll miss being that annoying little brother to you.”

“Loss like this is devastating and senseless,” said Lisa Freeman, president of NIU.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday it wasn’t clear why Martin was fired after having worked at Henry Pratt for 15 years, though “we can surmise that he
was speculative about what was going to happen, as evidenced by him arming himself with a firearm,” she said.

Martin, 45, had at least six prior arrests, including a conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi, where police said he once beat his girlfriend with a bat and stabbed her with a knife, the Washington Post reported.

“All I can remember is him hitting and kicking me, I can remember fighting and screaming for help,” the woman told police in Mississippi in 1994, according to court records cited in the report.

“I remember him pushing my head into that brick wall outside the apartment and thinking that he was going to kill me.”

Martin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, then moved to Aurora.

In the hours before the shooting, Martin went about his business like it was any other day, buying smokes at his local Circle K, according to a store clerk quoted by USA Today.

“He came in almost every day and bought two or three Black & Mild cigars,” said Ricardo Moreno, adding that the two would “chat about life and work.”

Neighbors said Martin was “friendly” when they’d see him in the hallway or outside playing with his drones.

“He said hi to a lot of people who came and went. I’m kind of shocked, I guess,” his next-door neighbor, Mary McKnight said, according to CNN. “I’m sad and shocked, and you kind of never know.”

The shooter’s family sought “peace” as they mourned at a suburban Chicago home Friday, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“We are mourning for the victims and we are mourning for our families,” said a woman who declined to be identified but spoke on behalf of the family.

“We’re worried about the other people who were killed and hurt. Our family has to mourn too because we lost one too.”

Additional reporting by Sara Dorn

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