FIVE people have died after a gunman opened fire on his colleagues and cops at a factory in Illinois, USA.

Survivors said he "was shooting everybody", as he rampaged through the plant with a laser-scope pistol.

The gunman was killed by police in a shootout at the scene.

He has been named as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

Martin's mum reportedly said her son was sacked two weeks ago and was "stressed out" before the shooting.

Five police were injured in a shootout as they responded to reports of an "active shooter" at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, 40 miles from Chicago at 3pm on Friday.

"Multiple civilians" were among an unconfirmed number of number of casualties taken to hospital and five are reported to have died.

SCHOOLS LOCKED DOWN
Local schools were put on lockdown - but cops later said the gunman had been "neutralised" and is "no longer a threat".

A witness said he heard gunshots then saw a familiar face, as the shooter is a colleague of his.

John Probst said on WLS-TV, a Chicago TV station: "I saw a guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it.

"He was shooting everybody."

Probst says there would have been about 30 people in the building at the time, and he and a coworker escaped through the back door.

He said: "One of the guys was up in the office, he said this person was shooting, and, he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad, and the next thing you know he was walking back and forth, I heard more shots, and we just left the building."

FIVE DEAD
Multiple people have been sent to two hospitals in the area, Mercy Medical Center and Rush Copley Medical Center.

The five police officers are in a stable condition, it has been confirmed.

Earlier Aurora Police Department tweeted: "Active Shooter Incident has been secured. Shooter is no longer a threat to the area. Continued police presence will remain as investigation continues.

"Parents please contact your local school districts for dismissal plan."

All schools in the area were on lockdown but this has now been lifted as the situation has been neutralised.

Diana Muniz, an employee at Taqueria Muniz, told NBC Chicago a customer reported hearing numerous shots in the area.

She said: “The customer said they heard one shot fired, then more shots like ‘boom, boom, boom.’"

A spokesperson from District 129 in Aurora said: "There are reports of an active shooter at the Henry Pratt building near Cleveland and Prairie just east of Luigi's Pizza, as a result, we are holding all district students in place for their safety, there is a police presence in the area."

The City of Aurora Twitter account released an alert saying: "There is an active shooter near Highland and Archer."

It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life

Richard IrvinMayor Of Aurora, Illinois
In a news conference on Friday evening the Mayor of Aurora Richard Irvin expressed dismay that his city is the latest to fall victim to a mass shooting.

He said: "It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country.

"It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life. But we as a society cannot allow these horrific acts to become commonplace."

When President Donald Trump left the White House on Friday he waved to reporters but ignored questions about the shooting in Aurora.

The White House has said Trump has been briefed on the incident and is now monitoring the situation.

New Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker said: "There is no way to prepare. There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams and their futures.

"There are no words to express our gratitude to the families of the officers who were injured in the line of duty as they responded within moments to the gravest kind of danger that they can face. Tomorrow, the families of the victims will be less than whole."