Lexington Mayor ‘horrified’ by Louisville shooting, remains mum on gun control

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton said she was “horrified” and offered the city’s help to Louisville one day after a mass shooting in a downtown Louisville bank.

“We are horrified about what happened there,” Gorton said after a Tuesday press conference to announce the city’s annual felony and misdemeanor expungement clinic later this month.

“Our prayers and thoughts go out to Louisville but we also want them to know that we are right there for them — the city, the mayor, whatever they need,” Gorton said.

Monday’s shooting at Old National Bank left five people dead and multiple people injured. The shooter, a 25-year-old bank employee, was killed at the scene.

The two-term mayor applauded the quick response of the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Gorton said Lexington Police Department is one of the best and highly trained in the country and stands ready if a similar event were to occur in Lexington.

Gorton stopped short of calling for stricter gun laws or other changes needed to stop mass shootings across the country. That’s the purview of state and federal governments, she said.

“I urge everyone who has authority over a building, a public building, to take whatever steps they need to take to make it safe for their employees,” Gorton said.

Having cities control gun laws would create a patchwork of laws that would be difficult to enforce, she said.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced earlier this year Louisville would disarm any firearms seized by police before sending guns to the Kentucky State Police to be auctioned. State law requires all confiscated weapons be sent to KSP for auction. A Louisville Courier-Journal investigation found at least two dozen weapons that had been seized by police were later used in other crimes.

Gorton said the city believes it’s against the law to remove firing pins from guns before sale.

“It’s not legal for us to destroy guns,” Gorton said.

This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 2:43 PM.

Beth Musgrave

Lexington Herald-Leader

Beth Musgrave has covered government and politics for the Herald-Leader for more than a decade. A graduate of Northwestern University, she has worked as a reporter in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois and Washington D.C. Support my work with a digital subscription