Kentucky

A week after Louisville shooting, officer remains in critical but stable condition

Pictured is rookie LMPD Officer Nickolas Wilt who was wounded shortly after he arrived on the scene at the Old National Bank. He is in critical, but stable condition at UofL Hospital.
Pictured is rookie LMPD Officer Nickolas Wilt who was wounded shortly after he arrived on the scene at the Old National Bank. He is in critical, but stable condition at UofL Hospital. Louisville Metro Police Department

The Louisville police officer who was injured in the April 10 mass shooting at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville remains in critical but stable condition, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Officer Nickolas Wilt was shot in the head by an armed gunman who killed five people at the bank on E. Main Street in downtown Louisville last week, police said. He was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery, where he has remained since the shooting happened. Wilt was one of nine people taken to the hospital after the shooting. One of those hospitalized has since died.

Wilt is the only patient still hospitalized from the shooting, according to UofL Health. The other seven patients were previously treated and discharged from the hospital.

“He remains in critical, but stable condition,” LMPD said in a tweet Monday. “The family sees and feels the love.”

Doctors have had trouble balancing Wilt’s body temperature and managing cranium pressure, the Louisville Metro Police Foundation said in a Facebook post Saturday morning. But he was stabilizing, the foundation said in the post.

“Please continue to pray,” the Louisville Metro Police Foundation said in the Facebook post.

Wilt had graduated from the police academy March 31, and was only on his fourth shift when the shooting happened, officials said during a news conference previously.

Wilt previously served as a firefighter and a dispatcher, according to the foundation. His brother, Zack, is also in the LMPD academy.

The foundation is accepting donations to support Wilt and his family. Donations can be made on the Facebook post directly, through Venmo, or on the foundation’s website at saferlouisville.org.

All money raised will go directly to the family, according to the foundation.

This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 11:11 AM.

Christopher Leach
Lexington Herald-Leader
Chris Leach is a breaking news reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the newspaper in September 2021 after previously working with the Anderson News and the Cats Pause. Chris graduated from UK in December 2018. Support my work with a digital subscription
Get one year of unlimited digital access for $159.99
#ReadLocal

Only 44¢ per day

SUBSCRIBE NOW