‘The evil act of targeted violence,’ Mayor on US’s Louisville mass shooting | World news

A 23-year-old bank employee armed with a gun opened fire at his workplace on Monday morning, killing four people – including a close friend of the governor – before being shot by police, authorities said.

The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 260 kilometers to the south. The governor of that state and his wife also killed his friends in that shooting.

“Let’s be clear about what this is,” said Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg. “This is a heinous act of targeted violence.”

Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside the Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said at a news conference.

“The suspect shot at the officers,” the police chief said, identifying the shooter as Connor Sturgeon. “Then we returned fire and waited for that threat.”

Nine people, including two police officers, were treated for injuries from the shooting, University of Louisville hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email. At least three patients have been discharged.

The police chief said that one of the policemen was shot and the operation was carried out. The officer, a 26-year-old who graduated from the police academy on March 31, is in critical condition.

An emotional Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said he lost one of his closest friends in a shooting at a home not far from Louisville’s minor league Slugger Field and Waterfront Park.

The governor said about the victims: “These are innocent, incredible people whose terrible act of violence took away from all of us.

It’s the second time Beshear has been personally touched by a major disaster since becoming governor.

At the end of 2021, one of the towns devastated by the hurricanes that ripped through Kentucky was Dawson Springs, the hometown of Beshear’s father, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear often visited Dawson Springs as a boy and has spoken fondly of his hometown.

Beshear spoke as the investigation in Louisville continues and police are looking for a motive. Crime scene investigators can be seen marking and photographing several bullet holes in the windows near the bank’s front door.

As part of the investigation, police descended on a neighborhood about 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of the downtown shooting. The road was blocked as federal and local officials spoke to residents. A house is closed with caution tape.

“I’m almost clean. You see it on the news but not at home,” said Kami Cooper, 38, who lives in the neighborhood.

A man who fled the building during the shooting told WHAS-TV that the shooter strayed with a long gun into a conference room at the rear of the building’s first floor.

“Whoever was next to me was shot – there was blood on me from him,” he told the news agency, pointing to his shirt. He said he fled to a restroom and locked the door.

Humphrey, the deputy chief, said the actions of the police response undoubtedly saved lives.

“This is a tragic event,” he said. “But it was a heroic response by the officers who made sure that no more people were seriously injured than what happened.”

The 15 mass shootings this year are the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 occurred through April 10, according to The Associated Press and USA Today’s mass shooting database. maintained through partnership with Northeastern University.

Back to 2006, the first year for which data was collected, the years with the most homicides were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 major homicides recorded during the entire calendar year. The pace in 2009 slowed later in the year, with 32 mass murders recorded that year.