‘She deserved to know.’ Beshear says he called shooting victim’s wife after finding out he died
Gov. Andy Beshear revealed he called Thomas Elliott’s wife after he learned Elliott was killed in the Louisville mass shooting Monday, which he described as “amongst the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Beshear discussed the shooting and said he went to Louisville immediately after receiving a text about the mass shooting. He then learned it was at Old National Bank, which he described as his bank.
The shooting happened at a branch on E. Main Street in downtown Louisville Monday morning. A gunman opened fire and killed five people and injured eight others. One of the injured victims was Nickolas Wilt, a Louisville police officer who was still in critical condition after he was shot in the head.
The attack was carried out by Connor Sturgeon, a 25-year-old employee of the bank who was shot and killed by police at the scene.
One of the victims was Thomas Elliott, who Beshear described as a close friend. Beshear told Collins he knew it would be hours before officials could inform Elliott’s wife, so he decided to call her.
“I thought she deserved to know, and we’re real close I think right now to where I made that call, ” Beshear said. “I’ve been governor during this pandemic, I’ve been governor during tornadoes and floods and negative 45-degree wind chills and everything else.
“We’ve lost a lot of people during those but calling your friend’s wife, who’s also your friend, to tell her that her husband is gone, is amongst the hardest things I’ve ever done, but at the same time, she deserved to know.”
Beshear also said during the interview that he “can’t imagine” how the parents of Sturgeon must be feeling after Monday’s shooting. The Louisville Metro Police Department released 911 call audio Wednesday which revealed that Sturgeon’s mother called 911 to warn them she believed he was headed toward Old National Bank with a gun, but others had already called in about the shooting.
The other victims killed in the shooting were Joshua Barrick, Deana Eckert, Juliana Farmer, and James Tutt, all employees of Old National Bank.
Victims First, a network comprised of surviving victims of mass-casualty crime, has organized a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for those affected by the Old National Bank shooting. Nearly $2,000 has been raised as of Thursday morning.
A vigil was held in downtown Louisville Wednesday to honor the victims as well as the first responders who have been credited with saving lives. Community leaders also called for tighter gun laws in Kentucky.
State Sen. Gerald Neal, a Louisville Democrat whose district includes the bank, told the crowd he shuts his eyes and asks himself, “Why haven’t we done more?”
“The truth is the events are foreseeable,” he said. “As painful and shocking as the news was Monday morning, tragically, it wasn’t out of the ordinary, and the lesson I gleaned, the perspective I find, is that it is time for all of us to do more. Yes, we must pray. Yes, we must reflect. But yes, we must act.”
Herald-Leader reporter Tessa Duvall contributed to this report.
