The gunman who opened fire during a morning conference at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky livestreamed the attack that killed four on his Instagram and left a note to his parents telling them he was going to shoot up the bank.
Authorities say Connor Sturgeon, 25, started shooting up the bank with an AR-15 style assault rifle at around at 8.30am on Monday after being fired from his position as a syndications associate and portfolio banker.
Images shared on social media show that he had posted on his Instagram story a series of memes — including one of Kylo Ren from Star Wars saying ‘I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it’ and another reading: ‘They won’t listen to words or protests. Let’s see if they hear this.’
During the shooting, it was overheard on police scanners that Sturgeon was ‘suicidal and texted a friend that he would “shoot up the bank.”‘ Police also confirmed that Sturgeon livestreamed the shooting on his Instagram, which has since been taken down and is now in police custody.
The victims have also been identified as Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and James Tutt, 64.
Elliott was a major Democratic donor, whom Gov. Andy Beshear. And police officer Nicholas Wilt, 26, is now in critical condition after being shot in the head.
The gunman was also killed in the shooting, but it is unclear if he died from a self-inflicted wound or from injuries he sustained as he exchanged gunfire with officers at the scene.
Connor Sturgeon, 25, has been identified as the shooter at the Old National Bank on Monday
Sturgeon was an employee of the bank. A motive for the shooting remains unclear
Blood was seen on the steps outside the Old National Bank in Louisville on Monday morning
Sturgeon grew up in Floyd’s Knob, Indiana, and was a star basketball player at 6-foot-4-inches at Floyd Central High School, where his father, Todd, served as the coach.
The elder Sturgeon resigned from the high school in 2022 saying he wanted to spend more time with Connor and a younger son, the Louisville Courier Journal reports.
A former friend and teammate of Sturgeon’s from high school described the gunman as smart, popular and a star athlete in high school track, football and basketball.
He was named a National Merit Scholar in 2015.
‘I know everyone always says this about shooters, but I truly would have never expected it to be him,’ the unnamed classmate told the Daily Beast.
He noted that Sturgeon always wore a helmet during basketball games because he had suffered so many concussions. An Instagram account that was apparently liked to Sturgeon was under the username ‘Mr. Concussion.’
‘The big thing I keep going back to is that in the first year of high school, we played football together in eighth grade, he was out most of the year because he had multiple concussions. Then he had a couple more in high school,’ the friend said.
‘I’m not saying it’s the cause, but I always think back to that… There were times I’d wonder, will this catch up with him? But never in this way. He’s the last person I’d expect would do this.’
Another former friend of the shooter’s also told CNN he never saw any red flags.
‘This is a total shock. He was a really good kid who came from a really good family,’ the friend said. ‘I can’t even say how much this doesn’t make sense, I can’t believe it.’
Sturgeon grew up in Indiana, and served on the Floyd Central High School basketball team
He was known to be a star athlete at the Floyd Central High School in Indiana
Connor listed ‘he/him’ pronouns on his profile and recently praised the bank’s leadership program, writing he ‘can’t recommend this program enough.
Sturgeon is pictured with an unidentified woman at an event for the bank where he worked
Connor listed ‘he/him’ pronouns on his LinkedIn profile and recently praised the bank’s leadership program, writing he ‘can’t recommend this program enough.
‘The opportunity to work with great folks in several areas to see where I fit was immensely beneficial,’ he said.
He had previously worked at the bank ‘for three consecutive summers’ while he was in college at the University of Alabama.
In 2022, he posted about taking part in the Focus Louisville program, saying it was an ‘eye-opening experience about many of the issues around Louisville and the people who are working to solve them.
‘One of the biggest takeaways was the volume of people whoa re working to have a positive impact, at places like Junior Achievement, Goodwill and JCTC,’ he wrote. ‘I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn, and for meeting so many great people as both speakers and classmates.’
He went on to earn a Master’s in Finance from the University of Alabama, which the university later confirmed, and hosted his own basketball podcast.
A 2018 college essay posted to the website Course Hero by a user identified as University of Alabama student Connor Sturgeon, however, says the author had trouble fitting in at school.
‘My self-esteem has long been a problem for me,’ he wrote. ‘As a late bloomer, in middle and high school, I struggled to a certain extent to fit in, and this has given me a somewhat negative self-esteem image that persists today.
‘Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone.’
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The author continued to say that in college he had ‘begun to mature socially and am beginning to see improvement in this area’ and that he hoped to be ‘more self-aware and start becoming a “better” person.’
Sturgeon had no previous criminal history, and his mother and brother were said to have approached police at the scene outside the bank to confirm Connor’s identity.
Residents of Louisville are pictured consoling each other outside of the Old National Bank
Officers staged outside of the bank as they continued to investigate the scene
ATF agents and Louisville police officers were seen outside his home following the shooting
Police are seen speaking with neighbors on Sturgeon’s street on Monday
Officers canvassed the neighborhood as they worked to get more information about the suspected shooter
Louisville Metro police said they arrived at the 300 block of East Main Street within three minutes of the gunman opening fire, and found him still spraying bullets when they arrived.
Videos of the shooting posted online showed officers at the scene running out into the street during rush hour traffic on Monday and warning drivers to get out of the car because there is an ‘active shooter.’
At least three gunshots could be heard in the footage.
Officers were later spotted outside Sturgeon’s $200,000 two-bedroom home in the city’s Camp Taylor neighborhood. There was yellow crime scene tape and officers appeared to be conducting an investigation.
Witnesses have said that the alleged shooter was carrying a ‘long assault rifle’ when he fired multiple shots near the conference room at the bank.
‘He just started firing,’ an unnamed employee told WHAS . ‘I didn’t see his face. We were in the conference room.
‘Whoever was next to me got shot, their blood’s on me,’ he added.
Two people are pictured embracing outside the Old National Bank in Louisville
Authorities say there is no ongoing threat to the public, but are urging people to avoid the area as the investigation continues
Police were deployed to the scene of the mass shooting in downtown Louisville on Monday morning
Another witness said they heard multiple gunshots as well as breaking glass coming from the bank after she dropped her son off at his job.
‘I had just dropped my son off at work on River Road,’ an unnamed witness told WDRB. ‘I was at the stop light, and the first thing that I saw — there was a guy across the street of the intersection and he was lying down at the entrance to a hotel.’
At first, she said, she thought the man was just out for a jog — but then she noticed he was on the steps and not the sidewalk.
That is when she said she heard gunfire, with video from the scene showing at least three shots were fired.
‘As I was siting at that intersection, gunfire erupted, like, right over my head,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know if it was going at the bank or out of the bank, I took off.’
‘When I turned, I saw that one of the windows in the bank had been blown out.’
She then said she saw police vehicles pull up to the area.
‘They were coming from everywhere,’ she said. ‘The police were coming out of their cars with black rifles.’
‘I just ducked in my car and waited there.’
ATF officers were seen with a stretcher outside the Old National Bank on Monday
Ambulances and police cars were seen outside the Louisville Slugger Field following the shooting
At least a dozen police cars and three ambulances responded to the area in the aftermath, according to witnesses on social media, and stretchers were seen being rolled onto some ambulances as blood and glass were seen scattered around the ground.
The FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officers are also on the scene as an investigation continues.
In the meantime, President Joe Biden is urging Congress to pass gun control measures.
‘Once again, our nation mourns after a senseless act of gun violence — Jill and I pray for the lives lost and impacted by today’s shooting,’ he said in a statement.
‘Too many Americans are paying for the price of inaction with their lives,’ the president continued. ‘When will Republicans in Congress act to protect our communities?’
