Updated: Louisville mayor confirms use of AR-15 rifle in mass shooting at Old National Bank
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Louisville Old National Bank shooting
Six people are dead and nine people were hospitalized after an active shooter opened fire in downtown Louisville on April 10.
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Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed Tuesday morning that an AR-15 was the weapon used in a mass shooting Monday that killed five people and injured others.
In an interview on CBS Mornings, Greenberg was making a call to action to address gun violence when he said shooter Connor Sturgeon used an AR-15, opening fire at the Old National Bank where he worked and killing several employees. Among the people injured were two police officers, one who was critically hurt.
Louisville Metro Police Officer Nikolas Wilt, 26, was shot by the gunman within minutes of officers arrival to the Old National Bank where the shooting took place. Wilt, who was just sworn into the Louisville Metro Police Department two weeks ago, remains in critical condition.
“We need to come together to take action,” Greenberg said during his interview on CBS. “If you care about other loved ones in your city and in your country, if you care about officers like Officer Wilt, who ran into this situation faced by someone who was holding an AR-15 waiting for your arrival, let’s take action.”
Before his statement, police had only confirmed that Sturgeon used a rifle to commit the deadly shooting. The motive behind Sturgeon’s attack is unclear.
LMPD: Gun was purchased legally
On Tuesday, LMPD Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said the AR-15 was purchased legally on April 4 from “one of the local dealerships here in Louisville.”
She also said a search warrant was executed at the shooter’s home and some items were recovered, but did not share what those were.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives said it couldn’t comment on firearm trace information but said Louisville police may be able to release more information on the gun. LMPD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Greenberg said in the interview that he and Gwinn-Villaroel would do “everything we can from a local level” to try to prevent more mass shootings.
He said the city has started by changing the way they return illegal, confiscated guns to the state by removing the firing pins before turning them over as required by state law.
“We are working with LMPD to reduce the amount of illegal guns on our street,” Greenberg said. “We are investing in people, and neighborhoods, and the root causes of crime and poverty so that kids grow up with the ability to pursue their own hopes and dreams.
“But we have to do more. We must call on our state legislatures to give cities like Louisville the autonomy to control our own destiny with respect to reducing this gun violence epidemic,” Greenberg said. “We need help from Congress to pass legislation that can give us more tools and ability to try to prevent acts like yesterday from never happening again in Louisville, in Nashville, or any city in America.”
In a Tuesday morning interview with Louisville Public Media reporter Justin Hicks, Gwinn-Villaroel confirmed the AR-15 was “recently purchased.”
This developing story will be updated.
This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 10:18 AM.
