Police: Louisville man planned bank shootings, placed phone in pocket to livestream
May 18, 2023, 2:18 PM
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The man who killed five co-workers at a Kentucky bank last month had made plans for the shooting and placed his phone in a front shirt pocket to livestream the killings, according to police records recently released.
The shooter, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, had also attempted suicide around the same time last year, according to four search warrants sent to tech and phone companies seeking access to information on his phone. Police also found a “manifesto or note” inside his Louisville residence, according to the search warrants, which were dated April 13 but were sealed by a judge for 30 days.
Sturgeon’s parents have spoken publicly about their son’s mental health issues, and said they were helping him seek treatment. They told police that his “mental health disorders may have played a part during this criminal act,” according to one of the warrants.
“Messages and notes from the device were shown to have plans on how to conduct” the shooting, a police investigator wrote in one of the warrants.
Sturgeon used an AR-15 assault-style rifle in the April 10 attack at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville before he was fatally shot in the lobby by a responding police officer. Eight others were injured, including a Louisville patrol officer, Nicholas Wilt, who was shot in the head and continues to recuperate. Wilt had just graduated from the police academy and had been on the job a few days.
The warrants do not give any details about what was found on the phones or the note found at Sturgeon’s home. Before the shooting, he went live on Instagram and placed his phone in his shirt pocket “to capture the mass shooting,” the warrants said.
The four unsealed warrants sought information from Google, AT&T, Apple and Snap Inc.
Sturgeon’s parents said their son had mental health challenges that were being addressed. But they said there were never any warning signs that he would commit a violent act.
The five bank employees killed in the shooting were Joshua Barrick, Deana Eckert, Tommy Elliott, Juliana Farmer and Jim Tutt Jr.
