The Louisville bank attacker was an employee

A Louisville bank employee opened fire at his Louisville workplace on Monday morning, killing five people, including a close friend of the governor — as he live-streamed the attack on Instagram, officials said.

Louisville Metropolitan Police Chief Jacqueline Quinn-Villarol said police arrived at the scene of the shooting inside the Old National Bank and killed the gunman in a shootout. The city’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the incident “an evil act of targeted violence.”

The shooting, the 15th fatal shooting in the United States so far this year, comes two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults 160 miles (260 kilometers) from a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. South. The governor of the state and his wife’s friends also died in the firing.

In Louisville, the police chief identified the shooter as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, noting that he live-streamed the attack.

“It is tragic that this incident was broadcast and captured,” he said.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it “quickly pulled live coverage of this tragic incident this morning.”

Nine people, including two police officers, were injured in the shooting, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountain said in an email. One of the injured, identified as 57-year-old Deanna Eckert, later died, police said overnight.

One of the officers, Nicholas Wilt, 26, graduated from the police academy on March 31. The Inspector General of Police said that he was in a critical condition after being shot in the head and undergoing surgery. At least three patients have been evacuated.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost one of his closest friends, Tommy Elliott, in a shooting at a building not far from the minor league Louisville slugger field and Waterfront Park.

“Tommy Elliott helped me build my legal career, he helped me become governor, he gave me advice on how to be a good father,” Beshear said, his voice breaking with emotion. “He was one of the people I talked to the most in the world, and we rarely talked about my work. He was a wonderful friend.”

Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt and Julianna Farmer were also killed in the shooting, police said.

“These are wonderful, irreplaceable people who have been taken from all of us in a heinous act of violence,” the governor said.

This is the second time that Beshere has personally suffered a massive tragedy since taking office as governor.

In late 2021, one of the cities devastated by the tornado in Kentucky was Dawson Springs, the hometown of Beshear’s father, Steve Beshear, who served two terms as governor. Andy Beshear visited Dawson Springs often as a child and spoke fondly of his father’s hometown.

Beshear made his comments as the investigation continued in Louisville and police searched for a motive. Crime scene investigators can be seen photographing and marking multiple bullet holes in windows located near the bank’s front door.

As part of the investigation, police went to the suspect’s residence, located about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the scene of the shooting. The street was blocked off while local and federal agents interviewed residents. A residence was cordoned off. Kami Cooper, who lives in the neighborhood, said she doesn’t remember seeing the suspect, but is nervous because she lives across the street from someone who would do something like that.

“I’m almost at a loss for words. You see it on the news, but not at home,” Cooper said. “It’s unbelievable that this could happen here with someone from my street.”

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