Five people were killed, including a personal friend of Kentucky’s governor, when a bank employee in Louisville with a rifle opened fire at his office on Monday morning, according to officials. The shooter live-streamed the crime on Instagram, they added.
According to Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, officers engaged the shooter in a gunfight after arriving just as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank. Craig Greenberg, the mayor of the city, described the assault as “an ugly act of targeted brutality.”
The shooting, which is the 15th mass murder in the nation this year, occurs barely two weeks after a former pupil at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, some 160 miles (260 kilometers) to the south, murdered three children and three adults. The governor of that state and his wife lost acquaintances in that shooting as well.
The chief in Louisville named the shooter as Connor Sturgeon, 25, who she claimed was live streaming the attack.
She remarked, “It’s sad to know that incident was out there and recorded.”
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, announced in a statement that it had “immediately taken down the live stream of this sad occurrence this morning.”
Over the past few years, social media companies have implemented stricter regulations to outlaw violent and extremist content. Companies have processes in place to take down posts and streams that violate these rules, yet disturbing content like the Louisville shooting keeps slipping through, leading politicians and other critics to lambast the technology sector for its lax security measures and moderation practices.
The attacker started firing with a long rifle in a conference room in the rear of the first level of the building, a guy who left the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV.
He pointed to his clothes and told the news station, “Whoever was close to me got shot; blood is on me from it. He claimed to have hidden in a break room and closed the door.
5 Dead, and 9 Injured Including cops
According to Heather Fountaine, a spokesman for the University of Louisville Hospital, nine persons, including two police officers, were treated for injuries. Police announced Monday night that Deana Eckert, 57, one of the injured, later passed away.
Nickolas Wilt, a 26-year-old wounded cop, received his diploma from the police school on March 31. After being shot in the head and undergoing surgery, he was in serious condition, according to the police chief. At least three patients had already been let go.
The shooting, according to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, claimed one of his closest friends.
Beshear continued, his voice trembling, “Tommy Elliott helped me grow my law career, helped me become governor, and offered me guidance on being a good dad.” He was one of the persons I spoke to the most in the entire world, although we seldom ever discussed my profession. He was a fantastic friend.
According to investigators, Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt, and Juliana Farmer were also killed in the shooting.
The governor added, “They are brilliant, irreplaceable people who a terrible act of violence tore from all of us.”
Here is a tweet which confirms the identity who died in shooting:
As the inquiry in Louisville went on and authorities looked for a motive, Beshear commented. Outside the bank’s entrance and not far from Waterfront Park and the minor league ballgame Louisville Slugger Field, crime scene investigators could be seen photographing and labeling multiple bullet holes in the windows.
Police converged on the suspect’s area, located approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the downtown shooting, as part of the investigation. While federal and local officials spoke with residents, the street was shut. Caution tape was used to isolate one residence. It’s unsettling to have lived on the same street as someone who could do such a thing, said Kami Cooper, a local who doesn’t remember ever meeting the suspect.
“I can hardly speak. You don’t see it at home, but you do on the news,” Cooper remarked. It could happen here, to someone on my street, it’s unbelievable.
According to deputy police chief Paul Humphrey, the responding police officers unquestionably saved lives.
This is a tragic occurrence, he declared. But, it was the police’ brave response that ensured there were no worse injuries than what occurred.
Just a few hours later, a community college was on the scene of a separate incident that left one guy dead and one woman wounded.
According to a mass killings database kept by The Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University in collaboration, this year’s 15 mass shootings are the most in the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 had happened by April 10. Later in 2009, when 32 mass murders were reported, the pace slowed.
The years with the most mass killings since 2006, the first year for which data has been kept, were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings respectively documented over the entire calendar year.
After taking office as governor, Beshear has personally experienced a major tragedy twice.
Dawson Springs, the hometown of Steve Beshear, a former two-term governor of Kentucky, was one of the towns decimated by tornadoes that ripped through Kentucky in late 2021. As a child, Andy Beshear made many trips to Dawson Springs and has spoken movingly about the place where his father was born.
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