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.
The Attack Inside the Bank
At approximately 8:35 a.m., Sturgeon encountered a female coworker near his office. He pointed the rifle at her and attempted to fire, but the weapon initially failed to discharge. After manipulating the rifle, he fired again and wounded her in the leg. She was able to escape from his immediate path.
Sturgeon then moved toward the conference room where employees were attending the morning meeting. A male employee who left the room after becoming aware of the danger encountered Sturgeon in the hallway and was fatally shot. Sturgeon reached the conference-room entrance and fired repeatedly into the crowded room. Employees attempted to hide beneath the table and behind furniture, but he continued shooting from the doorway and changed his firing angle to target people who were trying to take cover.
The concentrated attack on the conference-room occupants lasted only seconds, but numerous rounds were discharged. Several employees were killed or critically wounded before Sturgeon withdrew from the doorway and reloaded. Other workers fled, concealed themselves in offices or remained hidden while emergency calls were made.
The shooting was witnessed remotely by employees participating in the meeting through a video connection. Instagram removed Sturgeon’s livestream after being alerted to the broadcast, and law enforcement obtained a copy as part of the investigation. The recording was not publicly released in full.
The Murdered Victims
- Joshua “Josh” Barrick, 40 – Barrick was killed on April 10, 2023, at the Old National Bank offices at 333 East Main Street in Louisville. He was a senior vice president of commercial real estate banking. Barrick was a husband, father, youth basketball coach and active member of Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
- Thomas “Tommy” Elliott, 63 – Elliott was killed inside the bank on April 10, 2023. He was a senior vice president at Old National Bank and had a long career in Kentucky banking, business and civic affairs. He was also a close friend and mentor of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.
- Juliana Farmer, 45 – Farmer was killed during the conference-room attack on April 10, 2023. She had joined Old National Bank only weeks before the shooting and worked as a commercial banking agent. Her family remembered her as a devoted mother and grandmother who cared deeply for her relatives and friends.
- James “Jim” Tutt Jr., 64 – Tutt was killed at the Old National Bank office on April 10, 2023. He was a commercial real estate market executive and was involved in economic-development and community organizations in the Louisville and Oldham County areas.
- Deana Eckert, 57 – Eckert was critically wounded inside the bank and transported to the University of Louisville Hospital. She died from her injuries later on April 10, 2023. Eckert was an executive administrative officer at Old National Bank and had worked in the banking industry for many years.
Police Response
The first emergency calls reporting an active shooter were received at approximately 8:38 a.m. Officers reached the area within minutes. Sturgeon stopped moving through the office and positioned himself near the bank’s glass-fronted lobby, where he could see responding police officers approaching from East Main Street.
At approximately 8:40 a.m., Sturgeon fired at an arriving police vehicle. Louisville Metro Police Officers Cory Galloway and Nickolas Wilt then approached the building on foot. Wilt, a 26-year-old officer who had recently graduated from the police academy, was on only his fourth shift as a police officer.
Sturgeon fired through the building’s glass frontage, striking Wilt in the head. Galloway was struck by gunfire or bullet fragments in the shoulder area. A civilian outside the bank was also wounded during the exchange. Despite being injured and placed at a disadvantage by the glass and Sturgeon’s elevated position, Galloway moved to cover, located the shooter and returned fire.
At approximately 8:43 a.m., Galloway fired his patrol rifle at Sturgeon, fatally wounding him and ending the attack. Officers then entered the bank, searched for additional threats and began assisting victims. Wilt was carried away from the exposed entrance by fellow officers and received emergency treatment before being transported to the hospital. He underwent brain surgery and survived after a prolonged recovery.
Casualties and Survivors
Five Old National Bank employees were murdered. Eight other people were wounded, including Officers Nickolas Wilt and Cory Galloway. Some victims suffered severe gunshot wounds that required emergency surgery, while others were treated for less critical injuries. Deana Eckert was initially counted among the wounded but died at the hospital later that day, increasing the number of murdered victims from four to five.
The survivors included employees who had been inside or near the conference room, a person wounded outside the building and the two responding officers. Many other employees escaped physical injury but witnessed the killings, heard the sustained gunfire or watched portions of the attack through the bank’s remote meeting system.
Investigation and Findings
The Louisville Metro Police Department conducted an extensive homicide and officer-involved shooting investigation with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators searched Sturgeon’s residence, examined his electronic devices and communications, reviewed the livestream, interviewed witnesses and reconstructed his movements inside the bank.
Police determined that the shooting was a planned workplace massacre rather than a robbery. Sturgeon had specifically prepared to attack coworkers and then confront responding officers. He fired more than 40 rounds during the approximately eight-minute incident. Investigators found no evidence that another person participated in planning or carrying out the attack.
Reports initially circulated that Sturgeon had recently been fired or expected to lose his job. Old National Bank officials disputed claims that he had been formally terminated before the shooting. Investigators instead focused on his deteriorating mental state, suicidal intentions, writings about firearm access and expressed desire to create a highly publicized act of violence.
Aftermath
The massacre devastated the families of the five murdered employees, their coworkers and the Louisville community. Vigils and memorial services were held throughout the city, and public officials called for support for the victims and survivors. The Old National Bank offices at the shooting location remained closed, and the bank later resumed its Louisville operations from another location.
The shooting also generated lawsuits and renewed debate about firearm sales, workplace security and laws allowing courts or law enforcement agencies to temporarily restrict firearm possession by people believed to present an immediate danger. Families of victims and survivors pursued civil claims involving the sale and marketing of the rifle, while Old National Bank established memorial efforts honoring the employees who were killed.
Connor Sturgeon died at the scene on April 10, 2023, and therefore never faced criminal prosecution. The evidence collected by investigators established that he deliberately armed himself, entered his workplace and attacked coworkers who had gathered for an ordinary morning meeting. The five people he murdered—Joshua Barrick, Thomas Elliott, Juliana Farmer, James Tutt Jr. and Deana Eckert—remain the central victims of one of the deadliest acts of workplace violence in Kentucky history.
