Louisville bank manager recounts watching disgruntled employee shoot dead coworkers during video call
‘I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that,’ said Old National Bank manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims
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A manager at Old National Bank in Louisville has revealed how she was forced to look on helplessly as her coworkers were gunned down by a disgruntled employee during a Microsoft Teams session.
Bank manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims told CNN that she was on a video call with a group of colleagues who were together in the first-floor conference room of the bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning.
The meeting was in full swing when shooter Connor Sturgeon burst into the room and opened fire on the staff members with an AR-15-style rifle.
“I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that,” she said.
“I’m just as much in shock and disbelief and was in disbelief as I watched it unravel.”
Ms Buchheit-Sims said she did not personally work with the 25-year-old gunman at the bank, who is said to have learned that he was being fired from his job.
However, she said she knew of him because Sturgeon’s father coaches her son’s high school basketball team and had never seen any signs of violence or threats.
“His temperament is pretty low-key. I’ve never seen the kid get angry or upset about anything in public. He was pretty much just relaxed,” she said, describing him as “extremely intelligent” and with “just kind of a monotone personality”.
The shooting unfolded at around 8.30am on Monday, when Sturgeon opened fire inside the bank, while livestreaming the attack online.
Louisville police officers responded to the scene and exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
Sturgeon was killed by police gunfire on the scene.
Four victims were killed on the scene, before a fifth died in hospital later on Monday. The victims were all executives at the bank, identified as: Tommy Elliott, 63; Jim Tutt, 64; Josh Barrick, 40; Juliana Farmer, 57; and Deana Eckert, 57.
Another eight victims were hospitalised including two police officers who were shot by the gunman after responding to the scene.
One of those officers – Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Nickolas Wilt – was shot in the head. The officer, who was sworn in just days earlier, is in critical but stable condition following surgery.
Three of the wounded have since been discharged from hospital.
The motive for the attack remains unclear but the gunman is said to have left behind ominous warnings about his deadly plans for his family and friends to find.
Police dispatch audio, released by Broadcastify, captures the minute-by-minute police response to Monday’s horror attack
In the audio, the dispatcher is heard relaying to law enforcement officials on the scene that Sturgeon had called a friend before the attack and left a chilling voicemail saying he felt “suicidal” and planned to “kill everyone at the bank”.
Sturgeon had also wrote a note his parents and a friend outlining his plans to open fire in the bank, a law enforcement source told CNN.
The source said that Sturgeon had worked at the bank for over a year but had been notified that he was going to be fired.