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(CNN) According to footage of the massacre, city officials told CNN, it took the shooter just a minute to finish his deadly rampage at a Louisville bank before police stopped and waited.
Connor Sturgeon, a 25-year-old employee on the verge of being fired from the former National Bank, live-streamed his gruesome attack on Instagram on Monday, officials said.
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Investigators are combing through footage to try to understand what caused the mass shooting that killed five people, including a police officer who was shot in the head, and wounded several others. The massacre was the 146th mass shooting of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, and killed more than four people, excluding the shooter.
The video begins by showing an AR-15-style weapon—a weapon commonly used by U.S. mass shooters—after which a bank employee says “good morning” to the shooter, officials said. said.
In a now-deleted livestream by Instagram’s parent company Meta, the shooter can be heard telling a woman, “I need to get out of here.”
The gunman then tried to shoot her in the back but couldn’t because the safety was on and the weapon still needed to be loaded, officials said. He shoots the worker in the back as he loads the machine and removes the safety, officials said. Her condition is unknown.
The perpetrators then went on a rampage, firing at workers who tried to flee, officials said. Officials said the shooter did not go to other floors of the bank.
When the shooter finished firing, he sat in the lobby area overlooking East Main Street, apparently waiting for the police.
The killer waited about a minute and a half for the police to arrive, and local leaders, praising their quick response, engaged in a shootout with the shooter.
The attackers used AR-15 style rifles, federal law enforcement sources told CNN.
The AR-15 and its variants have taken part in some of the most horrific mass shootings in recent memory, including the Covenant school shooting in Nashville just two weeks ago that reignited a bitter political battle over gun control. It was the weapon of choice in many of the incidents.
Semi-automatic rifles are the most popular sporting rifle in the United States, with 30% of gun owners reporting they own an AR-15 or similar style rifle, according to the 2021 National Firearms Survey .
Officials in Louisville want to release the audio of the 911 call Tuesday and are working to release the surveillance footage as soon as possible, they said. A press conference is scheduled for 11:30 am ET.
death toll rises
The massacre “happened very quickly” in the boardroom of the former National Bank, said bank manager Rebecca Buheit Sims, who attended a staff meeting online and watched in horror as gunshots exploded on her computer screen. rice field.
“I witnessed people get killed,” she told CNN. “I don’t know how else to say that.”
Joshua Barrick, 40, was killed. Julianna Farmer, 45 years old. Tommy Elliott, 63 years old. James Tutt, 64, police said. Deana Eckert, 57, passed away late Monday.
Law enforcement officers arrive at the scene of the shooting in downtown Louisville on Monday.
The perpetrator interned for three summers at a bank where he was employed full-time for nearly two years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Sturgeon had received notice that he would be fired from his job at the bank, law enforcement sources said.
The shooter left a note to his parents and friends indicating he planned to shoot at his workplace, though it’s unclear when the message was discovered.
A police official said the sturgeon was still firing when officers arrived. At least two people were injured, including a rookie who was hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has ordered flags to be flown statewide at half-staff until Friday night to commemorate the victims of Louisville, but some Democratic lawmakers have called for meaningful gun violence. We shared our concerns about expressions of grief coming and going without a solution.
“My concern is that everyone will raise their fists in anger and grief and then go back to doing the same thing in six, eight weeks,” Senator David Yates told CNN on Monday. “I hope they don’t all have to die in vain like so many other victims of these mass shootings. Maybe something positive can come out of it.” ”
President Joe Biden has repeatedly pushed for gun control reform and called on Republican lawmakers to join Democrats in action.
“Too many Americans are paying the price for inaction at the cost of their own lives. When will Republicans in Congress act to protect our communities?” murmured.
how the massacre unfolded
Two people hug outside the building where the mass shooting took place in Louisville on Monday.
Police said the shooting began around 8:30 a.m., about half an hour before the bank opened to the public. Bank staff were holding their morning meeting in a conference room when the gunman opened fire, said bank manager Buchheit Sims.
One bank employee frantically called her husband, who had taken refuge in a locked vault, spouse Caleb Goodlett told CNN affiliate WLKY. By the time he called his 911, police already knew about the shooting, he said.
“It was a very traumatic call,” Goodlett told affiliates.he said his wife was not seriously injured
Nicholas Wilt, a 26-year-old rookie police officer, ran into the gunshot and was shot in the head, said interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Jacqueline Gwynne Villarroel. He had graduated from the police academy just ten days before the shooting.
Wilt underwent brain surgery and was in a critical but stable condition as of Monday afternoon, the chief said.
The bank is located around Louisville’s developing downtown business district, said State Senator Gerald Neal, who represents the district where the shooting occurred.
“You really wouldn’t expect anything to happen in this place,” he said.
Despite the shock of the shooting in Kentucky’s most populous city, Neal believes the debate over gun control in the state will still be an “uphill battle.”
“This is not a friendly state to those thinking about gun reform…or gun control in any way or, as you might think, in terms of restricting them we take Gun measures that can be made are reasonable.This is not the case, but the effort continues.”
Victim was an ‘incredible friend’ and mentor
One of the murdered victims, Senior Vice President Tommy Elliott Bank, was remembered by local and state leaders as a familiar and beloved leader of the region.
“Tommy was a great guy. He cared about finding good people and putting them in a position to do great things. “He was trying to lift people up and build them up,” state senator Yeats told CNN.
Elliott is also close friends with Beshear and Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg, and said he spent Monday morning at the hospital with Elliott’s wife.
“For every family I know, it’s tough,” said Greenberg. “When you know one of your victims well, you go home in a peculiar way.”
Beshear remembered Elliot as an “incredible friend” and called the others killed “wonderful people”.
Greenberg said the city is working with the American Red Cross to set up family support centers to help those affected.
“To survivors and their families, our entire city is here to wrap your arms around you,” Greenberg added.
The gunman worked at the bank for years
The shooter had not been “pre-engaged” with police before Monday’s shooting, the interim chief said.
He graduated from the University of Alabama in December 2020, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in finance, according to a university spokesperson.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he was hired as a commercial development specialist in June 2021 after interning at Old National Bank for three consecutive years.
One of Sturgeon’s former high school classmates, who knew the shooter and his family well, said Monday’s horrifying news was a “complete shock.”
“Unbelievable,” said a former classmate who wished to remain anonymous. He hasn’t spoken to Sturgeon in recent years.
Fix: An earlier version of this article misspelled Tommy Elliott’s last name.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtahian, Celina Tebor, Carol Alvarado, Kristina Sgueglia, Sara Smart, and Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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