Cops in Louisville released several chilling 911 calls Wednesday after Monday’s massacre at a downtown bank office—including a call from the mother of the man accused of killing five colleagues before dying in a shootout with police.
Connor Sturgeon’s mother, who identified herself at the beginning of the call, grew increasingly frantic as she relayed information to a 911 operator.
She told the dispatcher her son’s roommate had called her that morning with shocking news: Sturgeon had left a note indicating he was heading to his job at the Old National Bank and that he had a gun.
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“He has a gun and is headed to the Old National on Main Street here in Louisville,” she said. “This is his mother, I’m so sorry, I’m getting details second-hand, I’m learning it now. Oh lord.”
She insisted her son, 23, was “non-violent” and “a really good kid.”
“I don’t know what to do, I need your help,” she said. “He’s never hurt anyone, he’s a really good kid...We don’t even own guns. I don’t know where he would have gotten a gun.”
Later in the call, the distressed mom indicated that she was getting in her car to head to the bank. “I’m sorry, I’m trying to get to my car...I’m shaking,” he said.
The 911 operator ordered her to stay where she is, saying they’ve already received calls of an incident unfolding downtown and that it’s too “dangerous” for her to go.
“You have calls from other people so he’s already there?” she said before hanging up.
The first 911 call came from a bank employee at a separate Old National branch, who had witnessed her colleagues be gunned down as she met with them for a virtual meeting.
“Oh my God, oh my God, there’s an active shooter there,” she cried out hysterically.
When asked how she knew, the woman responded, “I just watched it,” adding that she was in a board meeting with the Old National Bank’s commercial team. She breathes heavily and bursts into tears as she describes what she can still see on the video feed—the shooter gone, but a lifeless body on the ground.
“I see somebody on the floor,” she said. “We heard multiple shots and everybody started saying, ‘Oh my God.’”
A separate 911 call came from a bank employee who phoned in from a closet on the building’s first floor, where the shooter was. She said she was hiding with a colleague and wasn't injured.
Gunfire could be heard in the background as the woman whispered to the operator, saying she recognized the shooter as an employee and that “eight or nine” people were hit. She repeatedly asked when cops were arriving as the operator begged her to stay quiet.
“I’m in the closet with my friend,” she whispered at one point. “I hear gunshots.”
Minutes later, the gunfire subsides and the woman is met by first responders after she called out for help, prompting the 911 call to disconnect.
The other calls seemingly came from witnesses outside the building. One man, upset with a 911 operator’s questioning as he exclaimed there was an active shooting, screamed, “We don’t know where he is because y’all don't fucking answer.”
Another man, clearly out of breath, calmly told an operator that “people have been shot.” He said he heard about 15 rounds fired and estimated that there was about 14 people in the room where the shooter attacked.
“Please get people there fast, please,” the man said. “And ambulances.”
Officers arrived within three minutes, running upstairs toward the building’s entrance but Sturgeon, who concealed himself behind reflective glass, fired upon them, authorities said. Shocking body-camera footage of the ensuing shootout was released on Tuesday.
An unnamed man and woman who called 911 from their condo across the street from the bank said they could “see an officer down.”
“I can’t see him move at all,” the man said. “I’ve been watching him consistently—I haven’t seen a foot or anything move, he went down right away when the bullets started firing.”
That officer, Nickolas Wilt, a rookie on just his fourth shift, was shot in the head and remained in critical condition at UofL Health on Wednesday, a hospital spokesperson told The Daily Beast.
The hospital added that only one other person from an initial nine was still in their care—an unnamed victim in stable but fair condition.
Police confirmed the names of those killed in the attack as Old National Bank staff Tommy Elliott, 63, Jim Tutt, 64, Josh Barrick, 40, Juliana Farmer, 57, and Deana Eckert, 57.
