A woman who says she had a brief but stormy relationship with Aurora gunman Gary Martin, says she became frightened of a man who she remembers as “very controlling”.
“He always threatened me,” the woman told NBC 5. “He has even told me because he knew my schedule, he said I know when you leave, I know when you come home, I will sit outside your door and wait for you, and he has done it.”
The woman, who asked that we not use her name, met Martin in 2008 when they were both neighbors at an Aurora apartment complex, took out numerous orders of protection against him. He took her to court as well.
And she said during those days, she warned police he had a gun—long before his now well-publicized application for a Firearm Owners Identification card and concealed-carry permit in 2014.
“Yes, I described it to them,” she said. “It had a long barrel and it looked like a revolver.”
Martin’s possession of a firearm has become a key focus of the investigation. Because of a prior felony conviction in Mississippi, his FOID card was revoked after that concealed-carry application in 2014. But investigators in Aurora say the Illinois State Police never gave them that information.
“I know that for this particular offender in question we’ve conducted an audit of our records, and we can confirm we’ve not been able to find any receipt that we received from the Illinois State Police that dates back to 2014,” Sgt. Bill Rowley told NBC 5. “We have no record of receiving notice from the Illinois State Police.”
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“He never threatened me with the gun,” the woman said. “But he said I will kill you.”
Thing grew so bad, she says, that she would look outside her window to see if Martin was watching her apartment, and literally run to her car if he was not there.
But as difficult as she says those times were, she was shocked at the news on Friday.
“I was just in total shock,” she said. “I didn’t think he could be that violent—no—no.”
