Police in Louisville, Kentucky, released body-cam footage Tuesday that showed the suspect in Monday morning’s horrific bank office massacre ambushing cops the minute they arrived.
The footage captured officers arriving at the Old National Bank building three minutes after workers first reported an active shooter. Connor Sturgeon, who authorities described as a 23-year-old suicidal bank employee who had purchased an AK-15 a week prior, allegedly walked into the building and opened fire at about 8:38 a.m., killing five Old National Bank colleagues and injuring nine more, including three police officers.
Citing an unnamed official, CNN reported that he gunned down co-workers for about a minute before sitting in the lobby and waiting for cops to arrive. A CCTV image released Tuesday showed Sturgeon walking into the office with a rifle, and another image showed him standing on top of shattered glass in the lobby with a rifle in hand, waiting for cops, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said.
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About 90 seconds later, Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt, a new recruit on his fourth-ever shift, and his field officer, Cory Galloway, arrived on scene.
Warning: graphic footage below
Body-camera clips showed Wilt and Galloway hop out of their cruisers and immediately draw their rifles as they walked up stairs leading to the bank’s entrance.
However, the gunman, who they couldn’t see behind the reflective glass, unleashed a barrage as they approached, Humphrey said. Footage showed that Galloway was knocked off his feet by the initial shots but he was able to take cover behind a wall as he appeared to try to find an angle to engage the shooter back, at one point yelling, “God damnit.”
He then yelled out to other cops that the gunman had an officer—Wilt—pinned down and trapped at the top of the stairs. Humphrey said Sturgeon “could see out where no one else could see in,” complicating the officers’ ability to return fire.
“He was able to fire on them before they could ever see where he was,” Humphrey said, calling the assault “an ambush.”
A barrage of return fire from officers came less than three minutes after they were first engaged. Galloway then shouted, “I think I got him down! I think he's down!” Cops were then captured rushing into the building, where a blurred body was lying on top of shattered glass.
Wilt, 26, was shot in the head and remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday. Galloway was superficially grazed by a bullet, Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said.
While a former high school friend and teammate told The Daily Beast that Sturgeon was smart and popular during his school days, Sturgeon had worn a helmet during basketball games after suffering “multiple concussions” and later wrote of his struggles with self-esteem and with making friends. Officials said Sturgeon left a note and told at least one person shortly before the attack that he was suicidal and intent on causing harm.
