LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The gunman who opened fire at a downtown bank Monday morning, killing five people – including a close friend of the governor – was an employee who livestreamed the attack on Instagram, officials said.
At least eight other people were injured, officials said, and the suspect was also dead. Two police officers were among the injured, including recent academy graduate Nickolas Wilt, 26, who was shot in the head and was in critical condition after surgery.
Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel identified the gunman as Connor Sturgeon, 25, and said he was livestreaming while shooting with a rifle. Meta, the parent company for Instagram, said it had quickly taken down the livestream.
“This was an evil act of targeted violence,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
Gwinn-Villaroel said officers arrived within three minutes of receiving reports of shots fired at Old National Bank, promptly engaged the assailant and killed him.
“The suspect shot at officers,” she said. “We then returned fire and stopped that threat.”
Of the nine people hospitalized, three were in critical condition, three had non-life-threatening injuries and three were discharged, according to Dr. Jason Smith, chief medical officer at the University of Louisville Hospital.
“This is awful,” an emotional Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference, adding that another friend was hospitalized after the attack.
“Our bodies and our minds are not meant to go through these kinds of tragedies,” said Beshear, who fought back tears speaking to the media.
The incident is the 15th mass shooting this year in which four or more victims were killed, the largest total in a year’s first 100 days since 2009, according to a USA TODAY/Associated Press/Northeastern University database. Four were public shootings, and most of the others were family-related incidents. There have been more than 140 mass shootings in which four or more victims were injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Who were the victims?
Gwinn-Villaroel said the four deceased victims were Jim Tutt Jr., 64, Tommy Elliott, 63, Juliana Farmer, 45, and Josh Barrick, 40. All were bank employees.
Beshear called them “irreplaceable, amazing individuals that a terrible act of violence tore from all of us.” He also singled out his close friend and mentor Elliott, a senior vice president at the bank.
“Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad,” Beshear said. “He was an incredible friend.’’
Greenberg said on Twitter that a family assistance center for victims and family members has been set up at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
The shooting happened in a building on East Main Street not far from the Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park. Beshear said he knows the building and its staff well.
“My AG campaign was out of that building,” he said. “I know virtually everyone in it, that’s my bank.”
Who was the shooter?
A 6-4 basketball player who was coached by his father in high school. An intern for three summers at the bank where he was eventually hired full-time. A student who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alabama in 4 1/2 years.
That kind of background doesn’t exactly conjure images of a mass murderer, and yet all those descriptors apply to Connor Sturgeon, whom police identified as the gunman in Monday’s attack on Old National Bank in Louisville that left four dead and nine wounded.
Sturgeon, 25, not only shot his former co-workers with a rifle but livestreamed the assault before being killed in a confrontation with police. His motive is under investigation.
“This will be a long, complex investigation involving local, state and our federal partners,” Gwinn-Villaroel said.
What happened during the shooting?
Officers responded to reports of shots fired at Old National Bank at 8:38 a.m., and within three minutes of being dispatched they arrived on the scene and exchanged gunfire with the attacker, killing him, Gwinn-Villaroel said.
“For my LMPD officers, who took it upon themselves and not wait to assess everything but just went in to stop the threat so that more lives would not be lost, thank you,” she said at an afternoon news conference. “I asked my officers when I addressed them today, ‘If we don’t do it, who will?”’
Terrance Sullivan, who lives near the building where the shooting occurred, said he was walking home from the gym around 8:30 a.m. when he saw police cars speed the wrong way down Main Street.
About 20 officers got out, rifles raised, and ran into the bank building, he said. Suddenly, he heard 10 to 15 shots fired and people screaming from within.
“The sound is what I keep thinking about. It was so loud,” Sullivan said. “People in my building who were inside could hear it. Being outside on the street as it happened – I’ve heard gunshots before, but not that many like that.”
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE SUSPECT:Who is the Louisville shooter who killed four people at bank?
President responds to latest act of gun violence
President Joe Biden lamented the latest shooting.
“Once again, our nation mourns after a senseless act of gun violence – Jill and I pray for the lives lost and impacted by today’s shooting,” Biden said on Twitter. “Too many Americans are paying for the price of inaction with their lives. When will Republicans in Congress act to protect our communities?”
Just a few hours later and blocks away from the bank, an unrelated shooting killed one man and wounded a woman outside a community college, police said.
Investigation underway
By noon, police had set up roadblocks on either side of a home at an address associated with Sturgeon in Louisville’s Camp Taylor neighborhood, about five miles south of the bank. The house was cordoned off with caution tape.
Police wouldn’t allow anyone onto that part of the street and canvassed the neighborhood asking residents if they had any video of the street. Later in the day, police entered the home and removed bags of evidence.
A motive has yet to be determined.
— Trevor Hughes
Police presence will remain at Old National Bank
Humphrey said officers were expected to remain at the scene “into the night.” The