One of Emily Pinkard’s first memories was of her father, Josh Pinkard, coming home from work. Each day, she would stand by the door and wait for him.
“On Feb. 14, 2019, I waited by the door, and on Feb. 15, 2019, I was planning on doing the same thing. Instead of waiting by the door, I was waiting in a hospital room, not knowing what was to come,” she said.
Josh Pinkard and four other men – Russell Beyer, Vicente Juarez, Clayton Parks and Trevor Wehner – were shot and killed that day at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse on the West Side of Aurora when an employee pulled out a gun during a termination meeting.
The gunman then escaped into the warehouse where he died after a confrontation and shootout with police.
The city of Aurora held a candlelight vigil on Thursday night at Belle Salle Banquets to honor those who died, their families and the five police officers who were wounded while responding to the shooting.
Emily Pinkard, who told her story at the vigil, said her father was her favorite superhero because he always stayed strong for his family.
“Nothing could break him, not even kryptonite,” she said.
The names of those who lost their lives that day are now permanently in Aurora’s history but are also in the hearts of those in the community and around the world, Mayor Richard Irvin said in his remarks at the event.
Irvin honored each of the victims’ families with a plaque that commemorates each of the victims’ birthdays, which will be honored in the city from now on – Feb. 21 was declared Russell Beyer Day, May 5 was declared Vicente Juarez Day, Feb. 26 was declared Clayton Parks Day, Oct. 10 was declared Josh Pinkard Day and April 22 was declared Trevor Wehner Day.
Additionally, a granite bench was unveiled that lists each of the victims’ names and the date of the shooting. It will be placed at the Aurora Police Department headquarters.
Feb. 15, 2019, was a relatively calm Friday afternoon, and Irvin was wrapping up a long week of work when he got the call alerting him to the active shooter, he said in his remarks. When he spoke with police command, he heard “extreme concern and fierce bravery” in the voice of then-Police Chief Kristen Ziman, he said.
“In the minutes that followed, things were fundamentally changed. People had been shot. Lives had been lost. In a matter of minutes, we became the very city we watched on the news over and over, year after year, dealing with horrific mass shootings,” Irvin said.
Aurora Fire Chief David McCabe said in his remarks that, when he saw other mass shootings happen around the country, he would think of it tactically and question how he would react in a similar situation.
The emotional impact of such a shooting did not hit home until 2008, when a man shot and killed five students and injured 21 more at Northern Illinois University, where McCabe attended college.
“I had taken classes in the very room where the shooting occurred. Now, I was emotionally invested,” he said.
Largely due to a federal grant, the fire department began training with the police department in 2018 on how to deal with an active shooter situation, according to McCabe.
“I don’t think anyone truly thought that this level of evil would ever appear in our city. We were wrong,” he said.
Aurora suffered a tragedy, but it was not broken, according to Irvin. He said many were able to “pull the light out of the darkness” and change the city for the better under the “Aurora Strong” mantra and spirit.
Because of the tragedy and the community’s response, Aurora is now a “profoundly different community” than it was five years ago, he said.
“The lessons we learned have made us more unified, more stable, safer and a much better community,” Irvin said. “We have angels with wings that watch over us, and we have angels with uniforms that protect us.”
When Aurora Police Chief Keith Cross raised his right hand almost 30 years ago to become a police officer, he knew he would have difficult days. However, he said during his remarks Thursday night that Feb. 15, 2019, was one of the hardest days of his career, and he still has a difficult time making sense of it.
“One thing I do know is that the response of the men and women of the Aurora Police Department and the Aurora Fire Department, and the several other agencies that showed up to assist us that day, saved lives,” he said.
Although they prevented what could have been a much worse situation, many officers who responded that day were physically and emotionally damaged, and many of those wounds linger, Cross said. However, he said the outpouring of support from the community has helped the police department move forward and heal.
While he wishes there was some way to change what happened at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse that day, Cross said he knows that is not possible. Still, he said the police department is committed to supporting those who were impacted by the shooting as they heal.
“Our hearts go out to the victims of this incident as well as their family and friends. We could not imagine the pain and sorrow that they have had to endure,” he said.
McCabe said that, while he often speaks in public and to the media, he had difficulty writing his speech for the vigil in part because he could never understand what the families of the victims had to go through that day and continue to go through.
“I haven’t experienced the loss of a child or a sibling or a spouse, so I don’t know the pain and suffering each family experienced and continues to experience, but I can tell you that I feel for you. I hurt for you, and we all do,” he said.
The police and fire departments often present the lessons they learned that day to other first responders across the area, according to McCabe. He said that, in each presentation, the departments include the names of the victims to keep their memory alive.
“On behalf of all the men and women of the Aurora Fire Department, we mourn for your loss, and hope the joyous memories of your family members provide you with comfort on this difficult day,” McCabe said.
As Emily Pinkard sat in the hospital waiting to hear about her dad five years ago, she remembered that he always taught her to put her faith in the Lord and be strong, just as he had done when she had to go in the hospital, she said.
“When I was first diagnosed with type one diabetes, he stayed in the hospital room for three days, freezing cold with just a thin blanket,” she said. “He always stayed strong around us. No matter what was going on, we could always turn to my father and see how strong he was being.
“Even though I was hurting in the hospital room, my father always taught me to be strong, so I was,” she said. “I always thought, ‘If Dad could do it, so could I.’”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
