11 April 2023 , 08:56
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A manager at the bank where a disgruntled employee killed five watched her colleagues slaughtered on a Microsoft Teams meeting, it has emerged.
Connor Sturgeon, 25, went into the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday morning armed with an AR-15 rifle and opened fire.
He fatally shot five of his colleagues before being killed by police.
According to a police source close with the investigation, Sturgeon had been told he was going to be sacked.
Rebecca Buchheit-Sims, a manager at the Old National Bank, had logged on to a Microsoft Teams meeting when the shooting started.
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She said: “Shortly after the meeting started, the gunman, which is an employee, started shooting up the conference room.”
Connor Sturgeon, 25, has been identified as the shooter at the Old National Bank on Monday (Linkedin)She added: “I witnessed people being murdered. I don’t know how else to say that.”
Six people were killed, including the shooter, with nine being taken to hospital for treatment. The five deceased victims were identified as Joshua Barrick, 40, Thomas Elliot, 63, Juliana Farmer, 45, James Tutt, 64, and Deana Eckert, 57.
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Ms Buchheit-Sims said: “I’m just as much in shock and disbelief and was in disbelief as I watched it unravel.”
One of the injured was Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Nickolas Wilt, who was shot in the head and is in critical condition.
Picture shows the area where a shooting took place in downtown Louisville, Kentucky (AFP via Getty Images)Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, the interim chief of the police department. said Wilt is in critical but stable condition at a hospital and underwent brain surgery.
The shooter was live streaming the massacre on Instagram, police have confirmed. "That's tragic to know that that incident was out there and captured," Chief Gwinn-Villaroel said.
Sturgeon joined the bank full-time in 2021 after three consecutive summer internships, and it is reported that he was recently fired from his job.
An officer was injured in a shooting at the Old National Bank, Louisville (Getty Images)Police also clarified that the suspect was killed by police and not from a self-inflicted wound.
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His account, with the handle @csturg41, has been taken down and police are in possession of the video, it was reported.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that it had “quickly removed the livestream of this tragic incident this morning.”
There are multiple reports online of the young banker reportedly telling a friend he was feeling suicidal and would "shoot up the bank".
Officer Nickolas Wilt had recently been sworn in (AP)Images have also circulated online showing what appears to be Sturgeon's Instagram account and some of the dark messages posted on there.
In one image a message is shared reading: "THEY WON'T LISTEN TO WORDS OR PROTESTS. LET'S SEE IF THEY HEAR THIS."
The police chief noted that the shooter hadn’t previously engaged LMPD.
Following the massacre, police forces including a SWAT team entered Sturgeon’s home in Louisville to investigate.