A Fox News contributor made an impassioned plea for gun reform during a segment on the Louisville shooting.
Ted Williams, a former Washington, DC homicide detective, appeared on Fox News on Monday afternoon.
“From what I understand, this shooter had phoned a friend and said that he was suicidal and that he was going to shoot up a bank. If that is the truth, then I think that we need to again, look at what is going on in our society,” he said.
“You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Just two weeks ago, I stood in front of a camera where you had some kids, some babies shot in Tennessee with a person who by the way had an AR-15. And from what we've been told here this individual had that same kind of weapon,” he added. “And when you look at mental illness, if mental illness is involved here, and that weapon – that's a dangerous concoction, and we've got to do something in this society.”
Addressing the host, he said, “I am sick and tired of standing in front of a camera – you and I have been on numerous occasions where young people have lost their lives”.
“Four people left home this morning and four people are not coming home tonight. That is something that we need to take into consideration. And when the government says we shouldn't talk about certain things now – well, then I have to disagree with the government,” he added. “We have to talk about guns – AR-15s are killing our babies and our citizens in this country and we got to do something about it.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, also appeared on the network on Tuesday, saying that the shooting was “so random ... you come out of Resurrection Sunday and everybody was going to work and had no sense based on what we've understood at this point that this was going to occur”.
“And you know, there'll be a time for conversation about policy and all those things. But it doesn't seem like there was any hint that this would have likely occurred,” he added.
The shooter, Connor Sturgeon, 25, killed five people and wounded eight others. Those killed in Monday’s attack have been identified as Josh Barrick, 40; Tommy Elliott, 63; Jim Tutt, 64; Juliana Farmer, 57; and Deanna Eckert, 57.
Sturgeon went on his rampage after being notified that the bank where he had worked since 2021 was ending his employment, law enforcement sources told CNN.
Sturgeon also left a note for his parents and a friend telling them that he was going to attack the bank, the source added.
Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said in a press conference this week that Sturgeon fired at responding officers, who returned fire to “stop that threat”. She confirmed that the suspect was shot and killed by police.
