Page 12 - Florida Sentinel 2-19-19

National
6 Dead In Aurora Factory Shooting; Mom Says Gunman Was Laid Off, ‘Stressed Out’
White Supremacist Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murder Of Black Man
James Harris Jackson, the White supremacist who killed 66- year-old Timothy Caughman in New York City in hopes of starting a race war, will spend life in prison without parole.
The 15-year employee of an Aurora factory who killed five workers and injured six oth- ers, including five cops, was being fired Friday, police said. The mother of the gunman, Gary Martin, 45, said her son was “stressed out” before the incident, which ended with him being killed by po- lice.
“He was way too stressed out,” said the woman, who de- clined to give her name before embracing relatives outside the Aurora police station and leaving Friday evening after meeting with officers.
At a later news conference, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman confirmed Martin had killed five people at the Henry Pratt Company, a 118- year-old company that makes water valves. The warehouse employs about 200 people, but it wasn’t clear how many were inside at the time, Ziman said.
The horrific ordeal lasted about an hour and 35 minutes from the time numerous peo- ple called 911 to report a shooter.
One officer was shot out- side the warehouse and an- other near the entrance as soon as they arrived at the scene, Ziman said. Three ad- ditional officers were wounded as they ran into the building.
No shots were fired for the next 90 minutes as scores of officers swarmed the ware- house and tried to find the shooter.
“We had two very different missions: One was for life sav- ing, and one was for finding the offender,” Ziman said.
A SWAT team eventually located Martin, who fired his Smith and Wesson handgun at them, Ziman said. They returned fire, killing him.
Authorities then found five employees dead, and another
Police say Gary Martin killed 5 people and wounded 5 cops in a shooting at an Aurora factory.
with a nonfatal wound. Their identities have not been re- leased. Ziman said they were giving family members time to contact one another.
“My heart goes out to the victims and their family mem- bers who simply went to work today like any other day,” she said.
The five officers who were shot are expected to survive as well. One had undergone sur- gery, and another was going under the knife late Friday, Ziman said.
A search of Martin’s Au- rora home didn’t turn up any- thing suspicious, Ziman said. “This is a sad day for the city of Aurora. We must never for- get those innocent people who were senselessly, senselessly gunned down,” said Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin. “... Our hearts go out to the vic- tims in this horrific tragedy.” Emergency crews originally responded to “multiple calls” of an active shooter at 641 Archer Ave. at 1:28 p.m., Ziman said.
The officers were immedi- ately fired upon as they en- tered they 29,000- square-foot warehouse, she said.
“There is an active shooter near Highland and Archer,” the city tweeted Friday after- noon. “Aurora Police are on the scene.”
“This is an ongoing active scene,” police tweeted.
A huge police and fire de- partment presence could be seen outside the business. SWAT teams surrounded the complex. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the FBI were also at the scene.
John Probst, who iden- tified himself as a worker at Henry Pratt, told ABC7 the gunman worked “in assem- bly” at the company for about 15 years and came to work Friday like any other day. He said 30 people were in the building at the time of the shooting.
He said he saw Martin holding a pistol with a laser scope before he started firing randomly. After the shooting started, he and other workers ran out of the back of the building, and some took refuge in nearby homes.
The shooter was “appre- hended” around 3 p.m., the city tweeted. Ziman later said he was killed by police.
James Harris Jackson
was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on Wednesday for the murder of 66-year-old Timothy Caughman, a Black man who he killed in the hopes of incit- ing a race war.
Last month, Jackson pleaded guilty to rare state charges of murder as terrorism and murder as a hate crime in the fatal stabbing in New York City almost two years ago. His conviction was the first of a white supremacist on terror- ism in the state of New York.
“The racial World War starts today,” Jackson wrote
in a manifesto according to the New York Times. “This politi- cal terrorist attack is a formal declaration of global total war on the Negro races.”
The Times notes that prior to his sentencing, Jackson at- tempted to offer a feeble apol- ogy for his actions.
“It never should have hap- pened, and of course, if I could do it all over again this never would have happened for sure,” he said.
Jackson’s lawyer, Fred- erick L. Sosinsky claimed that his client’s “lost soul and broken spirit permitted him to act as he never acted before.”
Maryland Judge Overturns
Jury's Decision To Award Korryn
Gaines Family $37 Million
A Maryland judge has over- turned a jury's decision to award the surviving family of Korryn Gaines $37 million. The 23-year-old was shot twice, along with her 5-year- old son Kodi, during an hour- long standoff in August 2016. The child survived Gaines did
not. According to CNN, Balti- more County Circuit Court As- sociate Judge Mickey J. Norman stated in an opinion Cpl Royce Ruby's conduct was "entitled to qualified im- munity," which translates as Ruby was well within his rights as a member of law en- forcement and is "shielded from liability for civil dam- ages."
Norman's opinion states Ruby acted within the mar- gins of the law. "This court has found that Corporal Ruby is entitled to qualified immunity and therefore, his shooting of
Korryn Gaines and her son Kodi.
Gaines was not unlawful." However, Norman states the damages Gaines' surviv- ing family was seeking were "excessive and shocks the con-
science."
The jury awarded $32.85
million to Gaines' son Kodi, $23, 542 for his medical bills and $4.53 million to Gaines' daughter Karsyn Courtney. The jury also found it fit to award Gaines' mother Rhanda Dormeus $307,000 and $300,000 to her father Ryan Gaines.
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