LOUISVILLE — The AR-15 rifle used to kill five people in Louisville was purchased legally, police said Tuesday.
In a morning news conference, Louisville Metro Police Department officials said the gunman bought an AR-15 rifle on April 4 from a Louisville gun dealer — six days before he walked into his place of employment and killed his coworkers.
Five victims died from the shooting at Old National Bank, LMPD has said. According to their LinkedIn profiles, they were all employees of the bank. They are:
- 40-year-old Joshua Barrick, senior vice president of Commercial Real Estate Banking
- 57-year-old Deana Eckert, executive administrative officer
- 63-year-old Thomas Elliott, senior vice president
- 45-year-old Juliana Farmer, loan analyst
- 64-year-old Jim Tutt, market executive
Nine people were injured and taken to the University of Louisville hospital for treatment. Eckert was among those being treated for injuries but died Monday night at the hospital.
Four patients were still in the hospital Tuesday morning. One was in critical condition and three were stable at that time. Officer Nikolas Wilt was in critical condition Monday night after receiving a gunshot wound to the head. On Tuesday morning, his condition remains the same.
The gunman, identified as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, was an employee of Old National Bank and died from police gunfire. Officer Cory Galloway shot Sturgeon.
Wilt was sworn into the police force in late March. Galloway is his field training officer.
A motive for the shooting is unclear but Louisville Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said it was “targeted.”
“He knew those individuals, of course, because he worked there,” she said.
Police investigations are continuing.
“We have executed a search warrant on his residence and we have recovered items and we cannot get into specific details on what we recover at this time, because again, the investigation is ongoing and we want to make sure that we’re providing accurate information,” Interim Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel. “The family deserves that and the community deserves that.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Kentucky’s current law paves the way for the murder weapon to be sold again in an auction, as all weapons seized by police must be sold in auction if not retained for official use. In February, his administration directed LMPD to remove firing pins from seized weapons bound for auction.
“That’s not enough. It’s time to change this law. And let us destroy illegal guns and destroy the guns that have been used to kill our friends and kill our neighbors,” Greenberg said.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization that collects data on American mass shootings, the Louisville shooting was the nation’s 146th mass shooting of 2023 and its 14th mass murder.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix