Louisville shooting: Bank gunman Connor Sturgeon’s rifle ‘will be auctioned’ – as police release bodycam footage
Police bodycam footage has shown the moment officers confronted a gunman who had opened fire at a Louisville bank – killing five colleagues.
Connor Sturgeon, 25, was shot dead by police following the attack at the Old National Bank in the Kentucky city on Monday morning.
Two patrol officers who responded to the shooting were among eight wounded, with one of the officers hit in the head by a bullet.
Sturgeon livestreamed the attack on social media.
Police bodycam video footage was released by officers on Tuesday.
In the footage, the officer wearing the camera can be heard saying he is approaching the bank from the east side.
Smashed glass can be seen on the pavement before gunshots are heard and the police officer appears to hit the ground.
He then runs down some steps back to street level before taking cover.
In other footage, an officer named Corey Galloway’s body camera shows him perched behind a stairway outside the building after rookie officer Nickolas Wilt was hit in the head by a bullet.
He waits and, as other officers arrive, more gunshots are heard and Officer Galloway fires – and then shouts to say he thinks the attacker is down.
Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said the video shows Mr Galloway “continues to stay in the fight and try to assess exactly where” the gunman is after suffering a minor gunshot wound while on the radio and “trying to get a good view of the” attacker.
Surveillance footage shows Connor Sturgeon inside the bank
Mr Humphrey walked reporters through edited footage and still photos.
One still image from surveillance video showed the gunman holding a rifle inside the building, surrounded by broken glass.
Police said he set up an ambush position to attack officers as they arrived.
Police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said they “unflinchingly” engaged Sturgeon to stop his rampage.
“The act of heroism can’t be overstated on yesterday. They did what they were called to do. They answered that call to protect and serve,” she told reporters.
Mr Wilt – who finished training less than two weeks ago – is critical but stable after being shot in the head, according to hospital officials.
Connor Sturgeon murdered five colleagues before police shot him dead
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Gunshots heard in Louisville footage
Ms Gwinn-Villaroel said the AR-15 style assault rifle used in the slaughter was legally purchased at a local dealership on 4 April.
Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg criticised state laws that mean the weapon will be sold at auction.
“The assault rifle that was used to murder five of our neighbours and shoot at police officers will one day be auctioned off,” he said.
“Think about that. That murder weapon will be back on the streets one day under Kentucky’s current law.”
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‘An evil act of targeted violence’ – mayor
Police chief Ms Gwinn-Villaroel did not give an indication of the gunman’s motive, but said they had never dealt with him before.
Those killed have been named as Joshua Barrick, 40, Deana Eckert, 57, Thomas Elliot, 63, Juliana Farmer, 45, and James Tutt, 64.
Officer Nickolas Wilt (centre) only recently finished training
Dr Jason Smith, chief medical officer at University of Louisville Health, was emotional when he spoke to the media and said he was “weary” of having to treat so many gun victims.
“There’s only so many times you can walk into a room and tell someone they’re not coming home tomorrow,” he said.
“It just breaks your heart when you hear someone screaming ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’.'”
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‘I have a very close friend that didn’t make it’ – governor
Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said one of the dead, Thomas Elliot, was a close friend and had helped him “build him law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad”.
“He’s one of the people I talked to most in the world, and very rarely were we talking about my job. He was an incredible friend,” he said.
The Louisville incident came two weeks after three children and three staff were killed in a mass shooting at a school in Nashville, Tennessee.
The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the US this year, comes just two weeks after a former pupil killed three children and three adults at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 160 miles to the south.
The Trump administration has stopped the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the US while it prepares to expand social media vetting of applicants.
A US official said on Tuesday the suspension is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already have visa interviews scheduled.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration document.
A downturn in enrolment of international students could hurt university budgets in the US.
To make up for cuts in federal research funding, some colleges previously shifted to enrolling more international students, who often pay full tuition.
Now, an internal cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by the Associated Press news agency shows how new student visa interviews are being halted as the US State Department plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting.
The cable says that “in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity” until the guidance is issued.
It also says the halting of new visa interviews is “effective immediately”.
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Asked about the suspension at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the US uses every available resource to vet people applying for visas.
“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Ms Bruce said.
The move, first reported by Politico, is the latest in the White House’s crackdown on international students.
Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, removing the college from the programme that allows schools to sponsor foreign students for visas.
That effort was quickly challenged in court and for now is blocked by a federal judge.
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Harvard foreign student ban blocked
This spring the Trump administration also revoked the legal status of thousands of international students already in the country, leading some to leave the US out of fear of deportation.
After many students filed successful legal challenges, the administration said it was restoring the students’ legal status.
But the government also expanded the grounds for terminating international students’ legal status going forward.
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US President Donald Trump’s previous administration stepped up scrutiny of all visa applicants, introducing reviews of their social media accounts.
The policy remained during President Joe Biden’s administration.
An extended pause in scheduling student visas could lead to delays that may disrupt college, boarding school or exchange students’ plans to enrol in summer and autumn terms.
A test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket has failed for the third time in a row.
It began spinning out of control about 30 minutes after its launch because of fuel leaks – meaning it broke up on re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Our chances of making it all the way down to the Indian Ocean are pretty slim,” a SpaceX commentator said during a livestream.
There had been hopes of a successful mission, as the rocket had progressed beyond the point of explosive past failures in January and March.
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March: SpaceX debris lights up sky after failed launch
But plans to release a series of mock satellites after lift-off were abandoned because its payload door failed to open fully.
The vessel had been mounted atop a Super Heavy booster that was being reused for the first time ever – and while that was meant to make a soft landing, it ended up slamming into the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX hopes that Starship will one day be used to ferry people and cargo to Mars, but this latest setback plunges Elon Musk’s ambitions into doubt.
Failed launches earlier this year disrupted dozens of flights across the US – and the project was grounded for two months while an investigation took place.
Musk was due to update the world on his space exploration ambitions later, in a speech entitled “The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary” – but the event has been delayed without explanation.
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Nonetheless, the world’s richest man described the latest test flight as a “big improvement”.
He also vowed to pick up the pace with future launches – and says the next three flights will take place every three to four weeks.
On X, the company added: “With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
NASA needs SpaceX to make huge advances with Starship over the next 12 months as the US agency tries to fulfil an ambition of landing astronauts back on the moon.
Musk had been hoping for success after pledging to start focusing on his many businesses – Tesla, X and SpaceX among them – after attempting to slash government spending while in the Trump administration.
Footage posted on social media showed the billionaire watching the test flight unfold from a control centre, while wearing the T-shirt “Occupy Mars”.
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