5 killed, 5 policemen wounded in mass shooting in Midwest US

CHICAGO -- A gunman killed five people and injured five police officers in a manufacturing plant in Aurora, a suburb of Chicago, on Friday, local police said.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said in a news conference that the gunman, who was also killed and identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, attacked his place of employment, the Henry Pratt Company in the city, around 65 km west of Chicago, the most populous city in the US state of Illinois.

The Henry Pratt Company is one of North America's largest manufacturers of valves for potable water, waste water, power generation and industrial markets.

Police officers responded to the shooting just before 1:30 pm local time (1930 GMT) and two officers were fired upon immediately as they entered the company's manufacturing building, the chief said.

The motive of the shooting is under investigation.

Sarah Sanders, US President Donald Trump's press secretary, issued a statement that read "The President has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora, IL."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation tweeted that agents from their departments were responding to the scene.

This is the third mass shooting where five or more people died since the beginning of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. And this is also the deadliest mass shooting so far in 2019. The U.S. Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to possess firearms.