A gunman who went on a rampage at a US bank, where six people including himself died, is believed to have been a popular student at school.
Connor Sturgeon, 23, was told that he was going to have his job at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, ended before he carried out the attack, a source reportedly told CNN.
The gunman wrote a note to his parents and a friend saying that he was going to carry out the attack but it is unclear whether it was actually seen prior to the massacre.
Six people were killed, including the shooter, with nine being taken to hospital for treatment. The five deceased victims were identified as Joshua Barrick, 40, Thomas Elliot, 63, Juliana Farmer, 45, James Tutt, 64, and Deana Eckert, 57.
Sturgeon, though, was no loner without friends who decided to suddenly in his own mind seek revenge, in fact he is thought to have been a popular athlete at school.
He was a track runner for his school in a Louisville suburb and was a semifinalist for a National Merit Scholarship in 2015, say local media reports.
Sturgeon, at 6ft 5in, was also a basketball player who went on to have a podcast with friends.
A former school classmate who claims to have known the gunman and his family well, said that there were no “red flags”.
“This is a total shock. He was a really good kid who came from a really good family,” the classmate, who asked not to be identified and has not spoken with Sturgeon in recent years told CNN. “I can’t even say how much this doesn’t make sense. I can’t believe it.”
Sturgeon’s dad Todd was a head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Indianapolis leading the team to five NCAA tournament appearances. He went on to coach and teach history at his son’s school.
Todd Sturgeon decided to leave his job as coach at the University of Indianapolis in 2007 so that he could spend more time with his family, according to a report on the website of his alma mater De Pauw University.
Now defunct Twitter accounts believed to belong to Connor Sturgeon had him tagged in photos of him on an athletics track and a basketball team.
More recently he had a podcast with two friends, and often tweeted about the NBA among other topics.
A former friend and teammate at Sturgeon’s Floyd Central High School highlighted that the gunman suffered many head injuries.
He said Sturgeon always wore a helmet during basketball games because he had suffered so many concussions.
He told the Daily Beast: “The big thing I keep going back to is that in the first year of high school, we played football together in eighth grade, he was out most of the year because he had multiple concussions. Then he had a couple more in high school.
"I’m not saying it’s the cause but I always think back to that… There were times I’d wonder, will this catch up with him? But never in this way. He’s the last person I'd expect would do this.”
Sturgeon worked as a summer intern for the Old National Bank for three consecutive years, eventually joining as a commercial development professional in 2021 and a full-time associate and portfolio banker last year, according to his LinkedIn account.
He also wrote that he had a Master’s degree from the University of Alabama.
But he was reportedly recently fired from the job ahead of the attack that police confirmed he live-streamed on social media.
