Louisville bank employee kills 5 in livestreamed attack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace Monday morning, killing five people -- including a close friend of Kentucky's governor -- while livestreaming the attack on Instagram, authorities said.

Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city's mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack "an evil act of targeted violence."

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles to the south. That state's governor and his wife also had friends killed in that shooting.

In Louisville, the chief identified the shooter as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, who she said was livestreaming during the attack.

"That's tragic to know that that incident was out there and captured," she said.

Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement it had "quickly removed the livestream of this tragic incident this morning."

Nine people, including two police officers, were treated for injuries from the Louisville shooting, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email. One of the wounded, identified as 57-year-old Deana Eckert, later died, police said Monday night.

One of the wounded officers, 26-year-old Nickolas Wilt, graduated from the police academy March 31. He was in critical condition after being shot in the head and having surgery, the police chief said. At least three patients had been discharged.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he lost one of his closest friends in the shooting -- Tommy Elliott -- in the building not far from the minor league ballpark Louisville Slugger Field and Waterfront Park.

"Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad," said Beshear, his voice shaking with emotion. "He's one of the people I talked to most in the world, and very rarely were we talking about my job. He was an incredible friend."

Also killed in the shooting were Josh Barrick, Jim Tutt and Juliana Farmer, police said.

"These are irreplaceable, amazing individuals that a terrible act of violence tore from all of us," the governor said.

Beshear spoke as the investigation in Louisville continued and police searched for a motive. Crime scene investigators could be seen marking and photographing numerous bullet holes in the windows near the bank's front door.

As part of the investigation, police descended on the neighborhood where the suspect lived, about 5 miles south of the downtown shooting. The street was blocked as federal and local officers talked to residents. One home was cordoned off with caution tape. Kami Cooper, who lives in the neighborhood, said she didn't recall ever meeting the suspect but said it's an unnerving feeling to have lived on the same street as someone who could do such a thing.

"I'm almost speechless. You see it on the news but not at home," Cooper said. "It's unbelievable, it could happen here, somebody on my street."

A man who fled the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV the shooter opened fire with a long rifle in a conference room in the back of the building's first floor.

"Whoever was next to me got shot -- blood is on me from it," he told the news station, pointing to his shirt. He said he fled to a break room and shut the door.

Deputy police Chief Paul Humphrey said the actions of responding police officers undoubtedly saved lives.

"This is a tragic event," he said. "But it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened."

Just a few hours later and blocks away, an unrelated shooting killed one man and wounded a woman outside a community college, police said.