Illinois State Police acknowledged Monday that the agency wrongly issued a gun license to the shooter in the Aurora warehouse murders, but in a detailed statement the agency also suggested that the Aurora Police Department may have failed to do its part to ensure the man no longer owned a weapon.
According to state records, Gary Martin applied for a firearm owner’s identification card on Jan. 17, 2014. He provided his name and birth date for a background check, and falsely answered “no” when asked if he had ever been convicted of a felony.
A records search only returned Martin’s criminal history in Illinois, a series of minor infractions that did not disqualify him from owning a gun. The screening process failed to detect a mid-1990s felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi for which he served five years in prison and was released in 1997.
Martin received his gun license on Jan. 31, 2014. Less than five weeks later, he purchased a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson from an Aurora gun dealer. The purchase was approved March 6, 2014, after Martin’s name and birth date cleared a second background check.
Martin used that gun Friday to fatally shoot five co-workers and wound several police officers at the Henry Pratt Co. He later died in a shootout with law enforcement.
State police said the agency is reviewing Illinois, Mississippi and federal records to determine how the felony conviction evaded two criminal background checks.
Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said a criminal background check would not necessarily detect a 20-year-old conviction. But Martin’s aggravated assault is easily found in public record databases used by the Chicago Tribune and news organizations across the country.
The Illinois State Police realized Martin never should have received his gun license within weeks of the Smith & Wesson’s purchase, according to a timeline the agency provided Monday. Martin applied for a concealed carry license on March 16, 2014, and submitted his fingerprints to expedite the application process. Those prints produced an FBI record that ultimately led state police to Martin’s felony conviction in Mississippi.
In a statement released Monday, the Illinois State Police said it revoked Martin’s license on April 17, 2014, and sent a letter notifying him that he could no longer possess a gun. The Aurora Police Department also should have been informed of Martin’s revocation through a statewide police database in accordance with agency policy, the statement said.
Upon receipt of the letter, Martin was given 48 hours to transfer the handgun to someone with a valid firearm license or his local law enforcement agency, state police said Monday. He also was required to submit paperwork — referred to as a firearm disposition record — to the Aurora Police Department proving he no longer possessed the gun.
Aurora police, in turn, were required to mail the completed form to the Illinois State Police. The state agency has no record of Aurora ever sending the required documentation.
“The ISP has no record of receiving a Firearm Disposition Record for Martin or Martin’s FOID card at this time, however a review of paper and electronic files continues,” the state agency said in a statement.
If a revoked FOID card holder fails to comply with the revocation requirements, the county sheriff or the local law enforcement agency may petition the court to issue a search warrant for any firearms in the holder’s possession. However, Illinois law does not require them to do so.
There is no record of law enforcement asking the court for permission to search for Martin’s gun.
Aurora police officials — who have said they will release further updates about the shooting primarily through social media — did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Ziman, who became the department’s chief in 2016, previously said she did not know if Aurora police or another agency checked on whether Martin gave up his gun. It was also unclear if Aurora had any record of the receiving the revocation notice.
“We’re looking into that,” Ziman said Saturday at a news conference.
The state police issued 10,818 FOID revocations last year. It is currently conducting a review to determine how many of the firearm disposition records have been returned.
“In most instances, the Firearm Disposition Record does not get returned,” the ISP statement said.
Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain recently told the Aurora Beacon-News his office is weeks away from launching a database to check on firearm owner’s ID compliance. The database would monitor only unincorporated areas of Kane County that the sheriff’s office oversees.
sstclair@chicagotribune
Twitter @stacystclair
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