At least four people were killed in a shooting Monday at an Old National Bank branch in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, and at least nine others were hospitalized, officials said. The suspected gunman was also dead, police said.
Police identified the four slain victims as Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliot, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; and James Tutt, 64. Louisville Metro Police Department interim Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel identified the gunman as a 23-year-old man who worked at the bank.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the gunman was killed by responding officers firing at the gunman or if the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey told reporters earlier.
“There is no active threat,” Humphrey said. “We believe this is a lone gunman.”
At least two police officers were shot while exchanging gunfire with the gunman, Humphrey said. One of the officers was in critical condition and undergoing surgery, and another person was also in critical condition.
Humphrey said the other wounded officer appeared to have received “non-critical” injuries. The two officers and seven civilians were being treated at UofL Hospital, the hospital said. At least three patients have already been discharged, the hospital said.
Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters he knew people who were killed in the shooting.
“This is awful,” the governor said. “I have a very close friend that didn’t make it today, and I have another close friend who didn’t either and one who’s at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through, so when we talk about praying, I hope people will.”
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Humphrey said officers responded to the shooting within three minutes of being dispatched and credited the quick response with saving lives.
“This is a tragic event, but it was the heroic response of officers that made sure that no more people were more seriously injured than what happened,” Humphrey said.
Police earlier said they were responding to an “active aggressor” and the FBI said its agents were also responding to the shooting.
Officials urged people to avoid the area.
Caleb Goodlett told CBS affiliate WLKY-TV he received a call from his wife who works at the bank at 8:30 a.m. She was calling from inside a vault and she told him there was a gunman in the bank, Goodlett told the station.
Goodlett said his wife asked him to call the police. When he called 911, he was told police were already responding.
Grace Poganski told CBS News she heard what sounded like metal hitting the pavement outside her condo building Monday morning. When she looked out the window of her condo, she said she saw a police officer with a rifle who appeared to be shooting at the front door of the bank.
She described the neighborhood as “relatively quiet” and noted a minor league ballpark was located nearby.
“We see shootings all over the country, and now it’s right at our doorstep, and it’s quite scary,” Poganski told CBS News.
Monday’s shooting happened two weeks after a shooter killed three 9-year-old children and three adults at a school in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter in that rampage died in a confrontation with police inside the school.
In another shooting in Louisville that wasn’t related to the rampage at the bank, one person was killed and another wounded Monday morning at Jefferson Community and Technical College, police said. Maj. Russ Miller told reporters the shooting happened in front of a building on campus.
Miller said preliminary information in the investigation indicated there could be multiple suspects in the shooting and they fled the scene.
