Multiple killed after gunman opens fire in Louisville, Kentucky, bank

Explore More

Four people were killed and nine others injured after a 23-year-old bank employee armed with a rifle stormed in and murdered his coworkers in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday, police said.

Connor Sturgeon opened fire inside the Old National Bank in the city’s downtown area, near Slugger Field, around 8:30 a.m., the Louisville Metro Police Department said.

Police arrived within minutes and exchanged gunfire with the mass shooter.

Sturgeon, who was live streaming his attack on Instagram, was shot and killed by police after he aimed his rifle at them, police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a Monday afternoon press conference.

“The suspect shot at officers,” the police chief said. “We then returned fire and stopped that threat.”

Cops are still trying to determine a motive for the massacre. They also don’t know where Sturgeon obtained the rifle used in the attack.

Sturgeon had been told he was going to be fired from the bank, according to CNN who also reported he had left a note for his parents and a friend saying he was going to shoot up the bank.

The slain bank employees have been identified as Tommy Elliot, 63, Jim Tutt, 64, Josh Barrick, 40, and Juliana Farmer, 57, all of whom were employees of the bank.

Two police officers were among those injured, including one, Nicholas Wilt, 26, who was shot in the head. Wilt, who had only graduated the police academy a month prior, underwent brain surgery and is now listed in critical but stable condition at University of Louisville Hospital, Villaroel said.

Two other victims are also in critical condition, three are non-critical and three have been released from the hospital, police said.

An emotional Gov. Andy Beshear was a close personal friend of Elliot whom he credited with helping him “build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on how to be a good dad.”

He added that some of the other victims were personally known to him and said: “These are irreplaceable, amazing individuals that a terrible act of violence tore from all of us.”

At an earlier press conference, a tearful Beshear said: “This is awful. I have a very close friend that didn’t make it today … And another who’s at the hospital who I hope is going to make it through.”

Beshear spoke as police desperately searched for a motive in the bank massacre.

Follow The Post’s latest coverage of the shooting in Louisville

Footage from the scene showed one of the bank’s windows blown out with glass scattered on the ground.

Crime scene investigators could also be seen marking out several bullet holes in the windows near the bank’s front door into Monday afternoon.

Witnesses told WHAS11 they saw a man with a “long assault rifle” fire several shots in a conference room on the first floor of the bank building.

“He just started firing,” witness Troy Haste, who works at the bank, said. “I didn’t see his face. We were in the conference room. Whoever was next to me got shot, their bloods on me.”

Another witness said he ran for his life as soon as the gunfire erupted.

“We have a break room. I got in there, shut the door for a second, and then I was looking around opening the door to see where he was at, and I could see him still shooting,” the man told WHAS-TV. “I didn’t see his face, and then I took off running out the front door.”

Footage from the scene appeared to show one of the bank’s windows blown out with glass scattered on the ground.

The bank wasn’t open to the public when the shooting erupted.

A driver, only identified as Debbie, told WDRB she had stopped at the traffic lights just outside the bank when she spotted a man who appeared to be injured lying on the entrance steps.

Then she heard gunfire.

“I didn’t know if it was going at the bank or out of the bank, I took off,” she said. “When I turned, I saw that one of the windows in the bank had been blown out.”

She said multiple law enforcement vehicles immediately swarmed the scene.

“They were coming from everywhere,” she said. “The police were coming out of their cars with black rifles.”

Deputy police chief Paul Humphrey said the actions of responding officers undoubtedly saved lives.

“This is a tragic event,” he said. “But it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened.”

President Biden issued a statement in the wake of the tragedy, saying: “Once again, our nation mourns after a senseless act of gun violence – Jill and I pray for the lives lost and impacted by today’s shooting.”

He added: “Too many Americans are paying for the price of inaction with their lives. When will Republicans in Congress act to protect our communities?”

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlf3R7j21mamhflrC1tdWeZKygn6TBpr6MrKCtrZGptrC6jKucqaeiqbKlecCtZKWnpZ7At7XLpZxmo5WjwbavyrJkm5meoHw%3D