February 25, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 34 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H2087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MOMENT OF SILENCE IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE LIVES LOST TO GUN VIOLENCE IN 
                            AURORA, ILLINOIS

  (Mr. FOSTER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FOSTER. Mr. Speaker, we rise today to honor the lives that we 
lost to gun violence in Aurora, Illinois, earlier this month.
  This is, unfortunately, not the first time that we have mourned the 
unnecessary loss of life from gun violence. Eleven years ago, when I 
first took office, I inherited a community in mourning: 17 students 
were injured and 5 were killed in the Cole Hall mass shooting at 
Northern Illinois University. So I spent my first weeks and months in 
office doing what I could to help my community recover.
  Now, 11 years later, on February 15, the call went out from Aurora, 
Illinois: Workplace shooting at Henry Pratt. Active gunman. Officers 
down.
  More than 200 police units from across the western suburbs of Chicago 
responded to contain the situation. They were running toward the sound 
of gunfire, as they do countless times each day in our country.
  Six officers were injured during that response, and, in the 
aftermath, we learned that we lost five members of our community:
  Josh Pinkard, the plant manager at Henry Pratt, who, when fatally 
shot, sent a final text message to his wife, Terra, to say ``I love 
you'';
  Trevor Wehner, on his first day at work at Pratt as an intern from 
Northern Illinois University;
  Clayton Parks, Trevor's supervisor and also a graduate of NIU;
  Vicente Juarez, a hardworking family man who lived with his wife, 
daughter, and grandchildren on a quiet street in Oswego;
  Russell Beyer, a mold operator and union committee chairman from 
Machinists Local 1202 and the father of two children.
  Now, as we have done so many times before in Congress, I will soon 
ask that we pause for a moment of silence; but this time, I would ask 
each of you to also think of the voting card that each of us carries on 
the House floor and the responsibility that you carry with that card, 
because this week we will finally be voting on legislation for 
effective and universal background checks for all gun sales. This is 
legislation supported by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress and 
supported by 97 percent of the American people.
  So, our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victims left 
behind, and now I ask that we pause for a moment of silence.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. All Members will rise for a moment of 
silence.

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