The Louisville bank where a gunman killed five and injured nine others enforced a policy that prevented employees from defending themselves.
Old National Bank’s employee handbook prohibits employees from carrying weapons at work, and the bank was not staffed with an armed security guard.
“Firearms, weapons, and other dangerous or hazardous devices or substances are prohibited from the premises of Old National without proper authorization. Firearms may be kept in parking areas in accordance with state law where recognizing such possession is required by state law,” it reads.
Connor Sturgeon, 25, an Old National Bank employee, was shot and killed by Louisville police after his alleged rampage in the downtown bank.
He reportedly streamed the attack on Instagram and messaged his parents and a friend about his intentions. They apparently did not see those until after the attack.
Sturgeon had learned he was going to be fired after working two years full-time for the bank and three summers as an intern. The bank is headquartered in Evansville, Indiana.
Sturgeon walked into the bank around 8:30 a.m. Monday. He was armed with a legally purchased AR-15 rifle.
The live stream begins with a woman greeting the shooter, CNN reported.
He replies, “You need to get out of here,” and attempts to shoot her. Realizing that the weapon’s safety was on, he turns the safety off, checks the round in the chamber, and shoots her in the back.
Others try to run away as the gunman fires, and he comes upon an employee meeting.
Some were attending the meeting in person, others remotely.
“I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that. … I’m just as much in shock and disbelief and was in disbelief as I watched it unravel,” said manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims, who told CNN she was watching on her computer screen.
Employees in the building ran for shelter. Some hid in bathrooms, others in a vault.
“The bathrooms on our floor have keycode entry, so it was probably the safest place we could think of to hide,” employee Tammy Madigan told The Daily Beast. “So the six of us went into the men’s room, turned off all the sound on our phones, tried to be as quiet as we could.”
Sturgeon sat in the lobby and waited in ambush for police to arrive three minutes later.
Officer Cory Galloway shot and killed the suspect.
Louisville police released body cam video from two officers. Both were wounded by gunfire. One of them, Nickolas Wilt, underwent brain surgery.
Deputy Police Chief Paul Humphrey said a lack of visibility hampered the response. The interior lobby was dark, in contrast to the bright outdoors.
A Louisville TV station reported what Sturgeon posted on his Instagram page Monday morning:
- A meme of Star Wars character Kylo Ren, saying, “I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.”
- A meme of a character from the movie Office Space saying, “I could burn this whole place down.”
- Sturgeon’s words: “THEY WON’T LISTEN TO WORDS OR PROTESTS. LET’S SEE IF THEY HEAR THIS.”
Old National Bank’s CEO went to Louisville with other senior executives.
“As we await more details, we are deploying employee assistance support and keeping everyone affected by this tragedy in our thoughts and prayers,” Jim Ryan said.
He did not say anything else about security at the bank, which did not have an armed guard. It was a lending bank where employees worked in an office environment without tellers or cash.
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) had mentioned banks in his argument for more school security in the wake of shootings.
“When you go to the bank and you deposit money in the bank, there are armed police officers at the bank. Why? Because we want to protect the money we save,” Cruz said on March 30. “Why on earth do we protect a stupid deposit more than our children?”
Many companies have rules prohibiting employees from bringing weapons to work.
In advice for employers, the state of Texas notes on Texas.gov that such policies are constitutional:
“The Constitutional protection afforded to U.S. citizens in the Second Amendment does not apply to disputes or controversies between private citizens, so a company would not be constrained under the U.S. Constitution from enforcing such a policy. The Texas Constitution would also not apply in such a way.”
Many states, including Texas and Kentucky, have passed constitutional carry laws allowing individuals 21 and older to carry handguns, openly or concealed.
Private rules such as Old National Bank’s, however, can still limit citizens’ carrying of firearms in numerous situations in these states.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called the mass shooting incident “an evil act of targeted violence.”
The five people killed were Joshua Barrick, 40; Thomas Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45; James Tutt, 64; and Deana Eckert, 57.
As of Wednesday, five of the nine injured had been released from the hospital, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Each year thousands of innocent people are killed/injured by gun related violence, more than in any other developed country in the world. We are told by politicians supporting the gun industry, NRA etc. that guns are not the problem. This is absolutely false. The absence of safe gun laws and the refusal of these politicians to pass legislation to pass such safe gun laws leads to more victims of gun related violence. Elected politicians (and their loved ones) are protected at tax payer expense. Why should they care about others being killed/injured in gun related violence?