Updated 4:20 pm

Stay up-to-date with the latest news, stories and insider events.

Please enter a valid email address Oops, something went wrong! Sign Up Try Again

You've signed up to receive emails. Please check your email for a welcome confirmation.

At least one fatality was reported, and four police officers were wounded during a workplace shooting in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago on Friday afternoon. The gunman was apprehended, officials said.

Chris Nelson, a spokesman for the Kane County state’s attorney’s office who was assisting the coroner’s office, said Kane County Coroner Rob Russell could confirm at least one person was killed in the shooting at Henry Pratt Co.

Parts of Aurora are located in Kane County.

Clayton Muhammad, Aurora’s chief communications officer, said police officers were injured but are in stable condition. He could not confirm how many were injured.

An employee at Henry Pratt said the gunman is a co-worker. John Probst told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door of the Henry Pratt building as the shooting unfolded afternoon.

Probst said he recognized the gunman and that he works at the company. He said the gunman had "a pistol with a laser."

Probst says he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

Henry Pratt makes valves for the potable water, wastewater, power generation and industrial markets.

All schools in West Aurora School District 129 were on a soft lockdown earlier this afternoon but got the all-clear around 3:30 pm to lift it  At that time, schools began dismissing in 40-minute intervals.

The Kane County Sheriff advised the district to keep students and staff in the buildings and to not allow anyone in.

Parents were alerted through mass texts and phone messages. The district said during the soft lockdown, schools operated normally.

Aurora parent Carly Zabinski got some of those texts and phone calls from the school district. Zabinski is a teacher in a different district.

“Being a teacher myself, I know the training teachers go through to keep students calm and safe,” she said. “I’ve been through that training.”

Zabinski said she knew the school had a plan in place, but she was still scared for her son who is a second grader at Goodwin Elementary School.

“I’m trying to prepare myself with how to approach this with a seven-year-old,” she said as she made her way to pick up her son. “How can I make him understand he’s safe, but at the same time there’s these crazy things that happen.”

The Henry Pratt Co. has been swarmed with police and paramedics after reports of the shooting.

Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin tweeted, "My heart breaks for Aurora. I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker tweeted that he was monitoring the situation and he encouraged "all residents to follow the directives of their local law enforcement."

The Associated Press contributed.