Louisville doctor treating bank shooting victims chokes up as he begs lawmakers to ‘do something’
Speaking at an emotional press conference on Tuesday, Dr Jason Smith, chief medical officer of UofL Health, made a impassioned plea to lawmakers to take action to stop the cycle of gun violence
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
The Louisville doctor treating the victims of Monday’s mass shooting choked up with emotion as he said that he has become “weary” from seeing so many people killed or wounded as a result of gun violence.
Speaking at an emotional press conference on Tuesday, Dr Jason Smith, chief medical officer of UofL Health, made an impassioned plea to lawmakers to take action to stop the cycle of shootings.
He said that his team had “barely had to adjust our operating room schedule” to deal with Monday’s shooting at the Old National Bank because of “how frequent we are having to deal with gun violence in our community”.
“I’ll tell you personally, I’m weary. I’ve been in Louisville for 15 years, all of it at University Hospital. For 15 years, I’ve cared for victims of violence and gunshot wounds. And people say, ‘I’m tired,’ but I’ll be honest, it’s more than tired. I’m weary,” he said.
“There’s only so many times you can walk into a room and tell someone they’re not coming home tomorrow. And it just breaks your heart.
“When you hear someone screaming, ‘Mommy’ or ‘Daddy.’ It just becomes too hard day in and day out to be able to do that.”
He added: “You just can’t keep seeing all these lives lost... without doing something to help them. I don’t know what the answers are – I’m a doctor... but we can’t just do nothing.”
The doctor – who revealed one of the surviving victims is still fighting for his life in hospital – begged lawmakers to “do something”.
“Everyone who makes policy, I would ask you to do something because doing nothing which is what we’ve been doing is not working. We have to do something,” he said.
Five victims – all bank executives – have died as a result of Monday’s mass shooting where a current employee entered the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, armed with an AR-15 that he had legally purchased just six days earlier.
At around 8.30am, Connor Sturgeon, 25, opened fire in a first-floor conference room as executives gathered for their morning meeting – all the while livestreaming the massacre on his Instagram account.
Officers responded to the scene within minutes and exchanged gunfire with the gunman, shooting him dead.
Four victims were pronounced dead on the scene while a fifth died from her injuries in hospital.
The victims have been identified as: Tommy Elliott, 63; Jim Tutt, 64; Josh Barrick, 40; Juliana Farmer, 57; and Deana Eckert, 57.
Another eight victims were alos 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 and is now fighting for his life in hospital.
Four of the wounded have since been discharged from hospital while four remain in hospital.
Officer Wilt remains in critical condition, another victim is in ICU but in stable condition while the other two have non-life-threatening injuries.
During Tuesday’s press conference, several Kentucky officials hit out at the state’s lax gun laws which leave authorities hamstrung to stop individuals like Sturgeon from carrying out mass attacks.
Kentucky Rep Morgan McGarvey slammed the individuals who have urged him “don’t make this political”.
“We don’t have the tools on the books to deal with someone who is an imminent danger to themselves or others,” he said.
He urged lawmakers to come together in “an American way” to “take weapons of war off our streets” – something he said should not be a political issue.
“That is not a political issue. But it becomes one when Kentucky Republicans would rather ban books and pronouns and then make Kentucky a sanctuary state for for weapons,” he said.
Also speaking at the press conference, Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters that it won’t be long before the AR-15 used in Monday’s attack will soon be back on the streets of Kentucky.
“Under current Kentucky law, the assault rifle that was used to murder five of our neighbours and shoot at rescuing police officers will one day be auctioned off. Think about that. That murder weapon will be back on the street,” he said.
In total, 40 people have been killed by gun violence so far this year in Louisville.
“That level of gun violence is beyond horrific,” he said.
“We have to take action now. We need short-term action to end this gun violence epidemic now so fewer people die on our streets, and in our banks, and in our schools and in our churches. And for that, we need help.
“We need help from our friends in Frankfurt and help from our friends in Washington DC.”
The mayor spoke about his own experience as a victim of gun violence after he was targeted in a shooting at his mayoral campaign headquarters last year.
“Last year, I survived a workplace shooting. And now yesterday, I’ve lost a very close friend in another workplace shooting,” he said.
He reached out to the state and federal officials, telling them that – if they won’t take action – hand the powers to the city so that he can.
“Let us, the people of Louisville, make our own choices about how we reduce gun violence in our city,” he said.
“This isn’t about partisan politics. This is about life and death. This is about preventing tragedies. You may think this will never happen to you, never happen to any of your friends or loved ones. I used to think that.
“The sad truth is that now no one in our city, no one in our state, no one in our state, no one in our country has that luxury anymore.”
Officials pointed out that another victim also died in an unrelated incident of gun violence just a few blocks from the bank on Monday.
The motive for Monday’s horror attack remains unclear but new details continue to emerge about the man behind the attack.
The police chief confirmed on Tuesday that Sturgeon was a current employee at the bank and so had workplace access to the building.
A search warrant was executed on the gunman’s home on Monday and a number of items were recovered, but they have yet to be disclosed by police.
“We have executed a search warrant on his residence, and we have recovered items and we cannot get into specific details on what we recover[ed] at this time, because again the investigation is ongoing,” said the police chief.
In the lead-up to the attack, Sturgeon began posting concerning posts on Instagram, according to local reports.
His account, which has since been taken down, included a meme photo captioned: “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it”.
“I could burn this whole place down,” read another.
The shooter’s last post before the attack then read: “They won’t listen to words or protests. Let’s see if they hear this.”
On Monday morning, the gunman is said to have left behind ominous warnings about his deadly plans for his family and friends to find.
In police dispatch audio, a 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 written a note to his parents and a friend outlining his plans to open fire in the bank, a law enforcement source told CNN.
He then live-streamed his shooting rampage on Instagram.
A vigil will be held for the victims on Wednesday.