City officials, the community and family members of the victims will come together on Saturday to pay tribute to the five people killed during the mass shooting at the Henry Pratt warehouse in Aurora on Feb. 15, 2019.
Beginning at 11 a.m., a wreath-laying ceremony marking the sixth anniversary of the tragedy will be held at Aurora City Hall, 44 E. Downer Place, honoring the victims of the mass shooting – Russell Beyer, Vicente Juarez, Clayton Parks, Josh Pinkard, and Trevor Wehner.
On Feb. 15, 2019, the five employees of the Henry Pratt Co. on Aurora’s near West Side lost their lives in a mass shooting after a disgruntled co-worker opened fire during a termination meeting inside the Pratt warehouse.
The gunman then escaped into the warehouse where he died after a confrontation and shootout with police.
Five Aurora police officers were wounded during the mass shooting – John Cebulski, Marco Gomez, James Zegar, Adam Miller and Reynaldo Rivera.
Aurora Chief Communications and Equity Officer Clayton Muhammad said a remembrance event has been held every year on the anniversary of the fatal incident, noting that last year’s event was “a milestone” as it marked the fifth anniversary of the shooting.
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“Last year was the largest ceremony we’ve had and this year, we’re scaling back a little as this is a brief wreath-laying ceremony with comments from the mayor and public safety officials,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us to pause on the day that it happened and that’s really what it’s for – to remember those five men who perished that day on the actual day. It’s an opportunity to come together as a community.”
Muhammad said while the sixth anniversary remembrance will be smaller than last year’s event, “it will be comparable to the years before where it’s just a brief ceremony to remember these men and let their families know they are never forgotten by Aurora.”
The ceremony will be held in the City Council chambers at City Hall and not near the Pratt site, per the surviving family members’ request, he said.
“People don’t want to relive the memories at that site and go back and revisit that,” Muhammad said. “That why we call it a commemoration or remembrance ceremony because we want to remember them, not the location where they were killed.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.