AURORA, IL — It's been six months since the city of Aurora was changed forever. It's been six months since a gunman opened fire, killing five employees of Henry Pratt Manufacturing Feb. 15, injuring a sixth civilian and five cops. It's been six months, but the wounds are still raw.
Vicente Juarez, Josh Pinkard, Trevor Wehner, Clayton Parks, Russell Beyer. The names of the victims lost in the shooting still resonate, are still carved into a piece of the city's history that can't be erased.
Police Chief Kristen Ziman relives February 15 every time she hears news of a mass shooting. On Facebook, Ziman wrote that she was in a grocery store the day before the six-month anniversary of the Henry Pratt tragedy when she heard the news of a shooting that injured six cops in Philadelphia.
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Ziman wrote: "I was in the grocery store yesterday when I got the call that there was a situation unfolding in Philly where 6 officers were shot. I stood in terror recounting the feeling 6 months ago to this day as I was en route to the mass shooting at Pratt when I heard our officers advise they had been shot — one after another. It’s the same feeling I get every time I hear of another shooting. And another. And so on."
Across the country, the victim's families are still surrounded by what seems like a continual outpouring of love. On Facebook, Abby Parks, wife of Clayton Parks, shared an image of a bench that was built in Clayton's memory and placed in a park near their home.
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Trevor Wehner was a 21-year-old intern and Northern Illinois University student who had just started at Henry Pratt the day he was killed. His parents accepted an honorary degree from NIU during its commencement ceremony in May.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Aurora's large community of residents banded together behind that rallying cry "Aurora Strong." That phrase has carved its place in Aurora's history and residents have since used"Aurora Strong" to cheer on high school sports teams, remember loved ones who were lost to violence, and keep a foster a sense of unity that has only grown since the Feb. 15 tragedy.
As a post shared by the City of Aurora to commemorate the anniversary said, "We are forever #AuroraStrong."
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