Parents of the Kentucky bank gunman have expressed sorrow for the “horror” their son inflicted on their community as they praised police who risked their lives to stop the shooter killing more of his colleagues.
Dramatic videos, released by Louisville Metro Police Department, offer a rare perspective of the efforts of emergency services who were called to the bank where Connor Sturgeon was livestreaming the massacre.
Four people were killed in the Old National Bank when Sturgeon stormed the branch and opened fire with an AR-15-style assault rifle. The gunman himself died, taking the toll to five.
Sturgeon, a 25-year-old finance graduate, had been working at the bank for more than a year but had recently found out he may lose his job.
He had no prior contact with Louisville police before Monday when he embarked on a targeted killing spree after first leaving a note in the house he shared with a friend he had met at university.
Sturgeon also sent a text message which read “I love you” to family members before opening fire, a lawyer for his parents told US media.
‘Anguish and horror’
His parents said in a statement on Wednesday morning that their son had been receiving support for mental health issues.
“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,” read a statement sent to local news outlet WDRB.
“We mourn their loss and that of our son, Connor. We pray for everyone traumatised by his senseless acts of violence and are deeply grateful for the bravery and heroism of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.”
They family said it had been “actively addressing” Sturgeon’s “mental health challenges” but “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,” they said.
Footage filmed by a bystander and by cameras attached to the lapels of officers details the chaotic scenes which confronted police when they were called to the bank around 8.30am Monday.
Officer shot in the head
One of the officers in the video, a rookie policeman, was shot in the head within minutes of arriving at the scene. His partner was grazed by a bullet and sought cover while still trying to take down the shooter.
Sturgeon had already shot people inside and, according to police, he had set up an ambush position to attack officers.
The front doors were glass, elevated from the sidewalk, and because of the reflection, the officers could not see the shooter inside, police said. But Sturgeon could see them.
The video shows Officer Cory Galloway retrieving a rifle from the boot of the patrol car.
“Cover for me,” he says.
Galloway was training rookie Officer Nickolas Wilt, who had graduated from the police academy just 10 days earlier.
The pair walked up the stairs to the entrance of the bank at which point Wilt was shot in the head. Galloway was grazed in the shoulder, police said. His body camera showed that he fell and then took cover behind a concrete planter box at the bottom of the staircase leading to the building.
‘I think he’s down!’
“The shooter has an angle on that officer,” he says in the video recording. “We need to get up there. I don’t know where he’s at, the glass is blocking him.”
A video taken by a bystander across the street, which police also released Tuesday, showed him darting back and forth from one side of the planter to another, trying to get a shot at the gunman.
“I think I got him down! I think he’s down!” he shouts after shooting the gunman. “Suspect down! Get the officer!”
The video then shows Galloway approaching the suspect, who lay on the ground inside the lobby next to a long rifle.
Officer Wilt was still in critical but stable condition on Tuesday, according to University of Louisville Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr Jason Smith.
Two of the four wounded still in the hospital had injuries that were not life-threatening, Dr Smith said.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said it was crucial to release the footage because “transparency is important — even more so in a time of crisis”.
‘We’re all feeling shaken’
The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the US this year, came just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.
In Louisville, five Old National Bank employees were killed: Joshua Barrick, 40, a senior vice president; Tommy Elliott, 63, also a senior vice president; Jim Tutt Jr, 64, a commercial real estate market executive; Juliana Farmer, 45, a loan analyst; and Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer.
“We’re all feeling shaken by this, and scared and angry and a lot of other things too,” Mr Greenberg said. “It’s important that we come together as a community to process this tragedy in particular but not just this tragedy because the reality is that we have already lost 40 people to gun violence in Louisville this year.”
[ad_2]
Source link