Aurora police release 8-minute, edited video of Henry Pratt shooting
Aurora police released an 8-minute segment of surveillance video Wednesday from the Feb. 15 Henry Pratt workplace shooting in which a gunman killed five co-workers and wounded five officers before police killed him.
The video, which does not have sound, was posted at 3 p.m. on the department's Facebook page and Twitter feed, and it came with an explanation from police.
“As with our decision to release audio related to this event, we were not careless in our judgment here, and we understand the disturbing nature of these images,” read part of the department's post.
“We understand, however, that as a matter of public interest and our ongoing commitment to transparency within our community, we agree that you have a right to see for yourself what transpired at the Henry Pratt facility that day where, sadly, five members of our community lost their lives, and five of our police officers were shot while simply doing their jobs,” police continued.
The video, which is divided among four camera views, begins at 1:50 p.m. with three squad cars pulling into the Archer Avenue lot.
About 2 minutes later, two officers, one with a riot shield, move toward the front lobby with another officer behind them.
The gunman, dressed in a white shirt with a black ammunition bag slung over his left shoulder, is seen in the front lobby, peering out the glass doors and pacing behind a waist-high wall. At one point, he empties a clip by shooting out the front door.
By 1:55 p.m., dozens of police cars block the parking lot's exit, and police fan out in the lot and storm the building with black riot shields.
The video goes black and resumes at 2:15 p.m. with an armored police vehicle driving through the parking lot and bumping the front lobby doors twice to allow seven officers with automatic weapons to enter and secure the lobby. The video ends there.
Police searched inside the building for more than hour before cornering the gunman and fatally shooting him.
Aurora police said there's no useful interior surveillance video from the shooting.
“This video depicts the shooter as he prepares to ambush approaching officers, and shows the officers' initial approach and subsequent entry into the Henry Pratt facility,” police said in their post. “The shooter was in possession of one pistol and eight pistol magazines, and we confirmed that he fired 64 rounds during this incident.”
Aurora police Sgt. William Rowley, the department spokesman, said police would have not any additional comment Wednesday.
Killed in the attack were: Trevor Wehner, 21, of DeKalb, a human resources intern on his first day on the job and set to graduate in May from Northern Illinois University; Clayton Parks, 32, of Elgin, the human resources manager hired in November; Josh Pinkard, 37, of Oswego, the plant manager who transferred there last spring after a dozen years in Alabama; Russell Beyer, 47, of Yorkville, a mold operator for 20 years and union chairman; and Vicente Juarez, 54, of Oswego, a stock room attendant and forklift operator since 2006.
Under state law, any officer-involved shooting must undergo an independent review.
Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said Tuesday that he and his office were reviewing a report from Kane County Major Crimes Task Force and should release findings “in the next couple of weeks, at the most.”