April 10 (Reuters/GNA) – A bank employee armed with a rifle shot dead four colleagues and wounded nine other people at his workplace on Monday while livestreaming the attack in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, city officials said.
The attacker was fatally shot at the scene, the Louisville Metro Police Department said, but it was unclear whether from police gunfire or a self-inflicted wound.
The department identified the shooter as Connor Sturgeon, 23, who joined the downtown branch of the Old National Bank as a full-time employee last year.
In the latest in a long series of mass shootings in the U.S., police said they responded within minutes to reports of an attacker at about 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) at the bank office near Slugger Field baseball stadium.
Officers fired at the gunman, who was armed with a rifle, police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel told reporters. The attacker broadcast live video of his attack over the internet, she said.
Police identified the dead as Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliot, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and James Tutt, 64.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, on the verge of tears, said during a news briefing that he knew some of the victims, including Elliot, a senior vice president at the bank.
“He taught me how to help build my law career, he helped me become governor, he gave me advice on being a good dad,” Beshear said. “One of the people I talked to most in the world.”
The nine people wounded in the attack were treated at the University of Louisville hospital, a hospital spokesperson said, including two police officers. One of the officers, a 26-year-old recent police academy graduate, was struck in the head and remained in critical condition after brain surgery on Monday, police said. Two other victims were also in critical condition.
GNA/Credit: Reuters