MAY 2023 - Blues Vol 39 No. 5

LOUISVILLE Old National

LOUISVILLE Old National Bank Shooting LOUISVILLE Not two weeks later, on April 10, 2023 , a 25-year-old gunman and former bank employee, Connor Sturgeon, opened fire inside a conference room on the first floor of the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville. Three Louisville Metro Police officers were shot and injured when they approached the front of the bank. Ambushed by the gunman, who layed in wait inside the glass doors of the bank. Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said April 10, 2023, will be forever etched into the city’s memory. “Our freedom to live in safety and conduct business with peace of mind was challenged,” she said. “But be assured, it is a challenge that the men and women of LMPD are prepared to face and conquer just as was demonstrated by the heroic actions of our first responders to the Old National Bank.” Here’s what played out that morning. About half an hour before opening for business, employees at the Old National Bank branch near the Ohio River in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, gathered for a morning board meeting. There was Thomas Elliott, the bank’s 63-yearold senior vice president; Deana Eckert, a 57-yearold executive administrative assistant; and Juliana Farmer, 45, who moved to Louisville two weeks ago to take a job as a loan officer and help her daughter, a single mom with four children. There was Joshua Barrick, 40, a senior vice president of commercial real estate banking. And James Tutt, a 64-year-old commercial real estate market executive and a big-time booster of the revitalization of the old urban neighborhood where they worked. Within a minute, the five bank employees would become casualties of a distinctly American phenomenon – the mass shooting. The Monday morning rampage by a member of their own work family was particularly personal for Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg: He not only lost a close friend in Elliott but had himself survived a workplace shooting last year at his campaign headquarters. “It is painful,” Greenberg said, “for all of the families I know.” It is a pain that extends far beyond the city bordering Indiana – best known for hosting the renowned Kentucky Derby and manufacturing the iconic Louisville Slugger bat that’s part of the history of the national pastime. The mother of the gunman, 25-year-old Old National Bank employee Connor Sturgeon, was among the 911 callers on Monday. Her son, she told the dispatcher, was heading to the Old National Bank branch on East Main Street. He had a gun and apparently left a note found by a roommate, she said. “I need your help. He’s never hurt anyone. He’s a really good kid,” the mother insisted. “We don’t even own guns. I don’t know where he would have gotten a gun.” The call was made at 8:41 a.m. Monday. “He’s never hurt anyone,” the mother said. “Please don’t punish him.” It was too late. The first 911 call about the bank shooting had come in three minutes earlier. The gunman was already inside. “You’ve had calls from other people? So, he’s already there?” “Yes,” the dispatcher said. Should she go to the bank, the mother asked. Stay away, the dispatcher advised. Sturgeon was killed by officers shortly after he fatally shot the five bank employees and then fired at them, wounding Officer Nickolas Wilt. The 26-year-old rookie cop was shot in the head 10 70 The BLUES The BLUES 71