Louisville Shooting Leaves 5 Dead, 8 Injured
Michael Morano
International/U.S. News Editor
A shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky has left five people dead and eight injured, including two police officers.
The shooting occurred on April 10 at Old National Bank in Louisville. The shooter, identified as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, was an employee at the bank who had worked there full time for two years. Police arrived and eventually shot Sturgeon and the injured were taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, with some requiring operations including one of the police officers. The victims killed have been identified as Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliot, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; James Tutt, 64; and Deana Eckert, 57. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg has called the attack “an evil act of targeted violence.”
While police have not yet identified a clear motive, two notes left by the shooter, one at his house and one found on him, may point in a direction. The notes explain that part of the shooter’s motive was to show how easy it was for people with a serious mental health problem to purchase a firearm in the United States. He had purchased a rifle just a week before the shooting and did not have to go through any extensive background checks. Under Kentucky law, he was only required to sign a form for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and go through an FBI records check to make sure he was not a felon or under a court-imposed restraining order. Kentucky is one of 26 states that allows adults ages 21 years or older to carry a firearm without a license. Police had also investigated the shooter’s house and neighborhood and had asked nearby residents about him. The shooter’s brain will also be examined for any signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, according to the shooter’s father, which is a disorder that can cause memory loss, impaired judgement, aggression, and other actions. The shooter’s mother had also made a 911 call to let police know that he was heading to the bank.
The shooter had also livestreamed the shooting on Instagram, but the video has since been taken down by Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta. Instances such as this have caused lawmakers to criticize social media companies for this type of content getting past their security systems and safety policies. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that one of the victims, Thomas Elliot, was a close friend of his who helped him start his political career.
Contact Michael at michael.morano1@student.shu.edu