A man who killed six people including himself during a rampage at a US bank was reportedly a popular student. Connor Sturgeon, 23, was told he was going to be sacked from his job at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, before he decided to carry out the attack.
The gunman had written a letter to his parents and a friend stating his plans to carry out the massacre but it is currently unknown if anyone had seen it prior to the act. Six people including the shooter were killed in the attack with a further nine rushed to hospital for treatment.
The Mirror reports the five victims have been identified as James Tutt, 64, Joshua Barrick, 40, Deana Eckert, 57, Juliana Farmer, 45 and Thomas Elliot, 63. Sturgeon is described as being a popular athlete at school having been a track runner for his school in a Louisville suburb where he was a semifinalist for a National Merit Scholarship in 2015.
A former classmate who claims to have known the family told local media that there were no “red flags” and expressed their disbelief at the tragic killing.
They told CNN: “This is a total shock. He was a really good kid who came from a really good family. I can’t even say how much this doesn’t make sense. I can’t believe it.”
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 teammate of Sturgeon at Floyd Central High School has told how the shooter suffered repeated concussions which forced him to wear a helmet during basketball games.
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.”
According to his LinkedIn account, Sturgeon worked as a summer intern for the bank for three years before joining as a development professional in 2021. He was promoted to full-time associate and portfolio banker last year.
He also wrote that he had a Master’s degree from the University of Alabama.
Police say that the 23-year-old who was fired from his job at the bank live-streamed the attack on social media.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - sign up to our daily newsletter here.
