Politics & Government
Beshear aide: National Guard fired shot that killed Louisville restaurant owner
David McAtee, a black restaurant owner who was fatally shot amid protests last week in Louisville, was killed by a bullet fired by the Kentucky National Guard, a state official said Tuesday.
J. Michael Brown, Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive cabinet secretary, said lab tests have concluded McAtee was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest from a bullet fired by a National Guard officer.
Officials have not yet been able to determine the exact weapon the bullet was fired from. Two guardsmen and two officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department fired at least 18 bullets in McAtee’s direction that evening, Brown said.
The “fatal shot came from the National Guard,” Brown said. “We have no doubt about that.”
He did not identify the two guardsmen who fired their guns.
Crowds of people protesting police violence that led to the recent deaths of Breonna Taylor in Louisville and George Floyd in Minneapolis continue to amass in Kentucky and around the country. After seven people were shot at a Louisville protest on May 29, Beshear, the next day, called in the National Guard. McAtee was shot by a guard member two days later.
The investigation into McAtee’s death, conducted by the Kentucky State Police and FBI, also concluded that McAtee fired his weapon — a 9 mm pistol — twice. Gunshot residue was found on McAtee and two shell casings matching that gun were found nearby.
“I believe, Mr. McAtee fired the first shot, paused, and came back up and fired again,” Brown said.
“Mr. McAtee’s weapon was tested and the shot casings we found outside the door came from that weapon, and he had gunshot residue on his person,” Brown said. The test results indicate “that one of the particles found was consistent with a firearm discharge,” and “five other particles were consistent with [McAtee] either handling or being around particles that were discharged,” he said.
State and local leaders said previously that McAtee shot first at police as they were approaching his restaurant, prompting them to fire back.
On the fourth night of protests in Louisville, McAtee, who owned YaYa’s BBQ Shack in West Louisville, can be seen in video footage grilling hot dogs and hamburgers outside his restaurant just after midnight on June 1. Law enforcement officers, after attempting to clear a crowd that had gathered outside a nearby store, approach McAtee’s establishment from across the street. A group of people gathered outside McAtee’s restaurant quickly move inside, away from law enforcement. The city was under a curfew at the time in an attempt to control widespread protests of police violence.
A video analysis of the incident by the New York Times published last week appears to show an LMPD officer firing first, shooting two pepper balls in the direction of McAtee, one of which almost hit his niece in the head, striking the door frame behind her. McAtee then steps out his back door, twice, and appears to fire back before he is shot in the chest by a bullet and falls to the ground.
Two members of the National Guard and two Louisville Metro Police Department officers, Austin Allen and Katie Crews, together, fired their weapons toward McAtee. Crews and Allen were placed on administrative leave while the case is investigated.
Separately, a Facebook post allegedly by Crews prompted an internal investigation into her conduct when she appeared to taunt a protester handing her a flower. Crews wrote, “P.S I hope the pepper balls that she got lit up with a little later on hurt,” Crews wrote. “. . . Come back and get ya some more ole girl, I’ll be back on the line again tonight.”
Beshear on June 1 asked for the LMPD officers’ body camera footage to be released, so Kentuckians could see for themselves what happened. Mayor Fischer, later that afternoon, said neither officer had activated their body cameras — decisions that violated police department policy and caused Fischer to fire Police Chief Steve Conrad, who was set to retire at the end of the month. Interim Chief Robert Schroeder said both Crews and Allen will face more discipline for their actions.
Beshear on Tuesday reiterated his promise to be transparent about the case as more evidence is uncovered.
“The fact that there is an individual who is no longer with us is tragic,” he said. Of the investigation, “My goal is to be truthful and to provide you everything that we have, in context, as it comes in.”
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