Victims, Gunman ID'ed In Louisville Shooting At Downtown Bank Building

LOUISVILLE, KY — A bank employee Monday killed four people in a shooting that injured nine others — all coworkers and police officers — at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, according to authorities, who said the gunman was fatally shot by authorities.

Police identified the victims Monday afternoon as Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliot, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and James Tutt, 64. Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel identified the shooter as 23-year-old Connor Sturgeon during a news conference live-streamed by WAVE. Sturgeon was armed with a rifle.

Sturgeon, who had no previous history with the police, livestreamed the shooting, according to Gwin-Villaroel. CNN reported that the livestream occurred on Instagram but has since been taken down.

“This will be a long, complex investigation,” Gwin-Villaroel said.

Sturgeon had learned he would be terminated from his job and wrote a note to those close to him stating he would commit a shooting, according to CNN, citing a law enforcement source.

“Let’s be clear about what this was,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said. “This was an evil act of targeted violence.”

Greenberg, himself a survivor of a workplace shooting, noted that Elliot was a close friend of himself and Gov. Andy Beshear.

“Today I’m hurt and I’m hurting,” said a visibly emotional Beshear, recalling how Elliot helped Beshear build his law career and become governor, and gave him advice on how to be a good father.

Old National Bank's executive team, including CEO Jim Ryan, was on site Monday, the bank said in a Facebook post.

“There are no words to adequately describe the sadness and devastation that our Old National family is experiencing as we grieve the tragic loss of our team members and pray for the recovery of all those who were injured,” Ryan said in a prepared statement. “Obviously, this is an incredibly difficult situation, and our entire focus is on making sure that everyone affected has the support and assistance they need.”

Two other friends of the governor survived the shooting, according to Beshear, who ran his campaign for attorney general out of the bank building. The governor ordered flags flown at half-staff until late Friday.

Beshear said during an earlier news conference streamed on Facebook by WKRN that despite the tragedy, he still believed Louisville was a safe community.

Emergency personnel received a report of shots fired at 8:38 a.m. at the bank in the 300 block of East Main Street and officers were on the scene three minutes later, according to Gwinn-Villaroel, who said Sturgeon shot at police and the officers returned fire, fatally striking the gunman.

Three of the nine surviving victims were officers, according to Gwinn-Villaroel, including 26-year-old Officer Nickolas Wilt, who graduated from the police academy less than two weeks ago and underwent brain surgery after he was struck in the head Monday. Wilt was in critical but stable condition Monday afternoon, she said. The other officers suffered a graze wound and a minor elbow injury.

Three of the victims were in critical condition and required some sort of surgery while another three had been released from the hospital as of Monday afternoon, said Dr. Jason Smith, of UofL Hospital, noting none of the victims who arrived at the hospital had died.

Greenberg urged the public to avoid the scene downtown, specifically the area around Slugger Field, and noted that just a few blocks away in an unrelated targeted incident a man was killed and a woman was shot.

The attack Monday comes two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a private school in Nashville.

The FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Kentucky State Police; and other non-local agencies have joined the shooting response, according to Beshear.

To submit tips, images and videos, visit http://fbi.gov/bankshooting or call 502-574-5673.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.