Police identified five people, including a suspected shooter, who died in a mass shooting at an Old National Bank in downtown Louisville Monday. Several others were transported to University of Louisville Hospital with injuries from the incident.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said the deceased ranged in age from 40 to 64. All the victims were executives at Old National Bank, a regional bank.
She said the four deceased victims were:
- Joshua Barrick
- Thomas Elliott
- Juliana Farmer
- Jim Tutt
Calls of an active shooter began coming to the city’s emergency coordination center just at 8:38 a.m. as people drove in on the Monday morning commute, Gwinn-Villaroel said. Police and emergency responders arrived at the scene three minutes later.
She said officers exchanged gunfire with the alleged shooter Connor Sturgeon, 25, and shot and killed him. He was a bank employee who didn’t have prior engagement with LMPD and used a rifle for the attack. She confirmed rumors that he live streamed the incident.
“This will be a long, complex investigation,” Gwinn-Villaroel said.
Nine people were injured during the incident, including three police officers. Nickolas Wilt, a 26-year-old who graduated from the police academy at the end of March, was shot in the head and underwent brain surgery. Gwinn-Villaroel said he was in critical but stable condition Monday afternoon.
Dr. Jason Smith, the chief medical officer at UofL Health said University of Louisville Hospital received and treated nine patients. Five suffered gunshot wounds. As of a news conference at 3 p.m., all were still alive, Smith said.
Three patients remain in critical condition, three not in critical condition and three were released, Gwinn-Villaroel said.
Public Defender Matt Irwin was driving into his downtown office when gunfire erupted in front of him on East Main Street outside Old National Bank, not far from the Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park. Unable to turn around, Irwin got out of his car and began waving others back.
“I heard shots going off and I saw an officer pull a rifle out of his trunk responding and another officer down in the intersection behind a car,” Irwin said.
Dozens of first responders swarmed the blocks surrounding the bank. Outside, people in business attire paced back and forth, concerned for those who may have been inside.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said midday Monday agents with FBI, ATF and the Department of Homeland Security were on the scene. He thanked LMPD and emergency responders. Beshear said his 2015 campaign for attorney general was headquartered in the same building as the bank.
He called it a tragic day and remembered Elliott, a victim in the shooting whom he called one of his closest friends.
"The first battle was stopping that gunman, the second is doing everything we can to keep the wounded alive," Beshear said.
He ordered flags across Kentucky to be flown at half-staff until Friday evening.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, who survived a shooting attempt at his campaign headquarters last year, also mentioned his friendship with Elliott. He thanked the emergency responders and doctors who assisted victims.
“This is really difficult for all of us across the city to process and accept,” Greenberg said.
Against the Grain line cook Karon Anderson arrived to work Monday morning a block away as the scene unfolded outside the Old National Bank. He helped people shelter inside the restaurant at the request of police.
“I just woke up to come in and think I’m gonna get hammered on the line and next thing you know you walk outside and it’s a crime scene,” Anderson said. “It's sad that we have to go through this almost everyday like it's a new trend now."
Hours later, a second unrelated shooting downtown
Less than three hours after the mass shooting at Old National Bank, a second, unrelated shooting outside Jefferson Community and Technical College left one dead and one wounded.
LMPD says shots were fired outside the JCTC building at 8th and Chestnut Streets, about a mile and a half away from the mass shooting at the bank.
Officers say a man was shot and killed, and a second person, a woman, is being treated for gunshot wounds in hospital.
JCTC student Alexa Mineer said she and her classmates were still getting details about the mass shooting at Old National Bank when they went on lockdown because of the shooting outside their own building.
“It’s sad because it don’t really like shock you anymore,” she said.
Police say the suspects fled and are still at large.
