Connor Sturgeon and the 2023 Louisville Bank Massacre
The Old National Bank Shooting
Connor James Sturgeon was a 25-year-old bank employee who carried out a mass shooting at the Old National Bank offices in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on April 10, 2023. The attack occurred on the first floor of the Preston Pointe building at 333 East Main Street, near Louisville Slugger Field and the city's waterfront district. Sturgeon murdered five coworkers and wounded eight other people before he was fatally shot by a responding Louisville Metro Police Department officer.
The shooting began shortly after 8:35 a.m. during the bank's regular Monday morning activities. A group of employees had gathered in a conference room for a meeting, while other participants were connected remotely. Sturgeon entered the workplace carrying a Radical Firearms RF-15, an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle that he had legally purchased from a Louisville firearms dealer six days earlier. He also brought multiple loaded magazines and positioned a cellphone on his body to broadcast the attack through Instagram.
Connor Sturgeon's Background
Connor Sturgeon was born on February 11, 1998, and grew up in southern Indiana. He attended Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, where he participated in athletics, including basketball and football. People who knew him during his school years described him as intelligent and socially active. His family later reported that he had suffered several sports-related concussions, although a postmortem examination of his brain reportedly found no evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
After graduating from high school in 2016, Sturgeon attended the University of Alabama and completed his degree in December 2020. He had previously worked as an intern at Old National Bank and began working there full time in Louisville in June 2021. By April 2023, he was employed as a syndications associate in the bank's commercial lending operation.
Investigators found evidence that Sturgeon had experienced serious psychological distress and suicidal thoughts before the shooting. He sent messages to people close to him shortly before the attack, and writings recovered by police indicated that the massacre was planned rather than spontaneous. His writings discussed his mental condition, his ability to purchase a rifle legally and his intention to use violence to attract attention to firearm laws. These statements did not excuse or lessen his responsibility for deliberately attacking innocent coworkers.
Preparation for the Attack
On April 4, 2023, Sturgeon purchased the RF-15 rifle, ammunition and magazines from River City Firearms in Louisville. The transaction was completed legally after the required background-check process. According to later investigative findings, he had limited familiarity with the weapon and spent time learning how to operate it during the days before the massacre.
On the morning of April 10, Sturgeon drove to the Old National Bank building and arrived at approximately 8:15 a.m. He removed a bag from his vehicle and entered the workplace. Once inside, he went to his office, prepared the rifle, arranged his ammunition and activated a livestream on his cellphone. He remained in the office for several minutes before stepping into the hallway with the rifle.
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