It's still not clear what provoked the 25-year-old employee to go on a deadly rampage

1 year ago 8

11 min ago

Police: Gunman's assault lasted about 9 minutes

From CNN's Kristina Sgueglia

Police deploy at the scene of a mass shooting outside an Old National Bank branch in downtown Louisville, Kentucky on April 10.

Louisville Metro Police Department Lt. Col. Aaron Crowell provided a few more specifics about the timeline of the fatal shooting at a bank Monday that left five dead.

During a briefing on Tuesday, Crowell said that the shooter was "neutralized" approximately three minutes after police responded.

"It's about a nine-minute span from the time he begins his assault," Cromwell said. "And then there's a few minutes after that, before we get the first call on it. Three minutes after that, when we respond to the scene. And then about three minutes after, we respond, the subject is neutralized."

Crowell reiterated that the gun purchased by the shooter in the fatal bank shooting was an AR-15-style rifle.

Louisville Metro Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said it was a "targeted" incident, as the shooter — who was an employee of the bank — knew the victims.

Police said they don’t know whether armed guards were present in the building.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg added that the shooting took place on the first floor of the bank building, and there were other people in the building at the time who were later cleared from the scene by police.

How it unfolded: The shooting began around 8:30 a.m. ET, police said, about 30 minutes before the bank opens to the public. Bank staff were holding their morning meeting in a conference room when the shooter opened fire, bank manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims said.

One bank employee frantically called her husband as she sheltered inside a locked vault, the husband, Caleb Goodlett told CNN affiiliate WLKY. By the time he called 911, police were already aware of the shooting, he said.

The gunman was killed in a shootout with officers, police said.

CNN's Michelle Krupa contributed to this report.

35 min ago

Here's what we know about the Louisville police officer still in critical condition

From CNN's Emma Tucker and Celina Tebor

A 26-year-old rookie Louisville police officer – who graduated from the police academy just 11 days ago – was hospitalized after being shot in the head while responding to a mass shooting Monday at a downtown bank that left five people dead and others injured, police said.

Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Nickolas Wilt underwent brain surgery after being struck during a shootout in the bank that left the gunman dead, Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, the interim chief of the police department, said Monday afternoon during a news conference.

The officer was still in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.

“They have him sedated. We are keeping our fingers crossed. It’s just a wait and see,” LaGrange Fire Chief Jim Sitzler told CNN. Wilt is a volunteer firefighter with the department, Sitzler said.

Wilt was new to the police department, having graduated from the police academy on March 31, according to the fire chief.

Read more about Officer Wilt here.

1 hr 15 min ago

Audio of 911 calls about the Louisville shooting expected to be released Wednesday

From CNN's Aya Elamroussi

Officials are expected to release audio of 911 calls Wednesday about the shooting, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday evening. It was among more than 145 shootings reported in the US this year with at least four victims, excluding a gunman.

Police have already released dramatic police body camera footage of Monday’s shooting at Old National Bank, in which authorities say the bank employee opened fire on his colleagues and then engaged in a shootout with police before he was shot dead.

The attacker, livestreaming the gruesome assault, fatally shot five of his coworkers in Kentucky’s most populous city around 8:30 a.m., about 30 minutes before the bank was to open, authorities said. Several others were hospitalized, including a rookie police officer who was shot in the head and was in critical condition Tuesday.

“Our city is heartbroken,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday evening. “These five victims should not be dead – just like everyone else who was killed by gun violence in our city, in our country, should not be dead.”

1 hr 13 min ago

These are the victims of the Louisville bank shooting

From CNN's Alisha Ebrahimji

Flowers sit on the steps of the Old National Bank in Louisville on April 11.

Five people were killed after a workplace shooting at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning. The city is set to honor the victims in a vigil Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET.

Here’s what we know so far about the lives lost:

Joshua Barrick, 40, and his family were members of the Holy Trinity Parish Louisville, the church wrote on Facebook.

"Our hearts are heavy, they are broken, and we are searching for answers," they wrote. "Please keep the entire Barrick family in your prayers, including his wife, Jessica, and their two sweet children, who are students in our school."

Deana Eckert, 57, was one of the hospitalized victims who later died Monday, police announced. It’s unclear if she was among the three people in critical condition earlier in the day.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg described Eckert as a "very kind and a very thoughtful person."

Tommy Elliott, Old National Bank senior vice president, is remembered by local and state leaders as a close mentor and beloved community leader.

"Tommy was a great man. He cared about finding good people and putting them in positions to do great things. He embraced me when I was very young and interested in politics," state Sen. David Yates told CNN. "He was about lifting people up, building them up."

Elliott, 63, was also close friends with Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Greenberg, who said he spent Monday morning at the hospital with Elliott’s wife.

"It is painful, painful for all of the families I know," Greenberg said. "It just hits home in a unique way when you know one of the victims so well."

Beshear remembered Elliott as an "incredible friend" and also called the others who were killed "amazing people" who will be missed and mourned by their communities.

Juliana Farmer, 45, was also an employee of the bank who had just started a new chapter in her life by moving to Louisville from Henderson, her aunt Vicki Brooks-Scott told CNN affiliate WFIE. It had only been her third week on the job, according to Brooks-Scott. She last talked to her niece on Easter.

"She loved life," Brooks-Scott said. "She was a beautiful young lady. All I can say is that heaven has gained a beautiful angel."

Farmer leaves behind three children, four grandchildren, and a fifth due in September, according to her aunt.

James "Jim" Tutt, 64, was a "huge fan and supporter" of the downtown Louisville area and actively helped to promote it, Rebecca Fleischaker, the executive director of the Downtown Development Corporation, told CNN.

Tutt worked as the CRE market executive at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville since 2015, according to his LinkedIn.

He was on the board of the Downtown Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization, since 2018 and recently served as its treasurer.

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Celina Tebor, Elizabeth Wolfe, Laura Ly, John Miller and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

1 min ago

Kentucky has some of the least restrictive gun laws in the US

From CNN's Josh Campbell, Jack Hannah, and Elizabeth Joseph

A 25-year-old man in Kentucky legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle at a local gun dealership. Six days later he used that weapon to kill five of his colleagues at a downtown bank, Louisville Metro Police said Tuesday.

Kentucky has some of the least restrictive state gun laws in the nation. Gun enthusiasts have described it as “one of the most gun-friendly states east of the Mississippi.” By contrast, gun violence prevention groups like Everytown have billed the state’s laws as “among the worst in the country.”

Kentucky is home to some of the highest firearm death rates in the country, the latest statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show. Experts attribute gun violence across the state to relaxed laws in obtaining firearms and the absence of any training requirements to handle a legally purchased gun.

“Universal background checks are nonexistent, so you can buy a gun from a stranger and there’s no record of the sale, making it almost impossible for law enforcement to trace these weapons if they’re ever used in a crime,” CNN contributor Jennifer Mascia, founding staffer at The Trace, a nonprofit outlet focused exclusively on gun violence, said.

“Red flag” laws, found in more than a dozen states across the US, allow courts to temporarily revoke firearm ownership by anyone believed to be a danger to themselves or others. They too are nonexistent in Kentucky, Mascia pointed out.

If the Louisville mass shooter’s behavior “had aroused suspicion among family members, it would have possibly resulted in him being disarmed or at least a visit from law enforcement, which could have derailed his plans,” she said.

Prior to 2019 – when Kentucky allowed firearms to be carried without a concealed carry permit – individuals had to prove they knew how to fire a gun. “They actually had to pass a shooting test. So, you went to a shooting range and you had to make 11 out of 20 shots on a target in front of an instructor,” Mascia said. The state eliminated the requirement when permitless carry was adopted, making anyone eligible over the age of 21 able to lawfully possess a firearm to conceal their deadly weapon in public without officially demonstrating they know how to use it.

According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, there’s no waiting period between the purchase of a firearm and its physical transfer to the buyer in Kentucky, whereas some states require a waiting period ranging anywhere from 72 hours to 14 days before the weapon is handed over.

Read more here.

2 hr 4 min ago

Here's what we learned from the police body camera video in the Louisville bank shooting

From CNN staff

Officer N. Wilt's bodycam shows Officer C. Galloway preparing to approach the bank in downtown Louisville where a shooting took place.

The Louisville Metro Police Department released several minutes of officer body camera footage Tuesday showing the tense moments between police officers and the gunman outside the bank shooting.

Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey walked through several clips of the incident Tuesday evening. Police said it took about three minutes for the nearest responding officers to arrive.

Here's what to know:

Officer Cory "CJ" Galloway: The gunman in Monday's shooting appeared to be waiting for police officers to arrive, Humphrey said. He said the shooter went to the bank's front lobby "after assaulting the victims in the office area." Footage from Galloway's body camera shows police talking about how they can’t see the shooter and that he is shooting through windows. “Shooter has an angle on that officer!” one officer can be heard saying. “We got to get up there!” he adds. Galloway was Wilt's training officer, according to Humphrey.
Officer Nickolas Wilt: The newly sworn-in officer was shown in body camera footage going back into the line of fire to protect other people, Humphrey said. He said since Wilt was new to the force, he was acting based on "his training and his character" and that he "never hesitates." Wilt was shot in the head and is still in critical condition at the hospital, officials said.
What happened next: While police attempted to rescue Wilt after he was shot, Galloway's body camera shows the suspect shooting at them "trying to kill them in their process of trying to save Officer Wilt," Humphrey said. The gunfire broke the bank windows, allowing Galloway to find a vantage point to see where the gunman was located, Humphrey said. This is when Galloway kills the shooter, the deputy chief said. Galloway suffered a minor gunshot wound.
Bystander video: Another video showed a recording taken by someone in a building across the street. Viewers can see an officer outside the bank.
Before police arrived: In addition to the surveillance footage, CNN reported that the shooter, identified as a 25-year-old bank employee, live streamed the attack on Instagram. The video has been taken down. A city official described the footage to CNN, saying the shooter fired his AR-15-style weapon inside the bank for about a minute and then appeared to wait a minute and a half before police arrived.

2 hr 4 min ago

Louisville will hold a vigil tonight to honor the shooting victims

From CNN's Aya Elamroussi

Officials in Louisville, Kentucky, are preparing to host a vigil tonight to grieve the five people killed this week in a downtown bank shooting.

The city will hold a vigil at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, the mayor said.

The vigil will “acknowledge the wounds, physical and emotional, that gun violence leaves behind,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters Tuesday. “It will be an interfaith opportunity for our entire community to come together – to grieve, to heal, to begin to move forward.”

2 hr 19 min ago

Family of Louisville shooter reveals in a statement that gunman had "mental health challenges"

From CNN's Tina Burnside

A Louisville Metro Police officer stands outside of the home of the suspected shooter in a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 10.

The family of the gunman who killed five people Monday in a bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, told CNN affiliate WDRB that they knew the 25-year-old struggled with depression, but saw no signs he was planning or capable of such violence.

In a statement obtained by WDRB on Tuesday night, the family said that "while Connor, like many of his contemporaries, had mental health challenges which we, as a family, were actively addressing, there were never any warning signs or indications he was capable of this shocking act."

"While we have many unanswered questions, we will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials and do all we can to aid everyone in understanding why and how this happened," according to the statement.

The family also praised police and expressed sadness for the victims of their son's actions.

"No words can express our sorrow, anguish, and horror at the unthinkable harm our son Connor inflicted on innocent people, their families, and the entire Louisville community," according to his family. "We mourn their loss and that of our son, Connor. We pray for everyone traumatized by his senseless acts of violence and are deeply grateful for the bravery and heroism of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department."

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