The four victims of the mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky have been identified, one of whom was a close personal friend of Governor Andy Beshear.
Tommy Elliott, 63; Joshua Barrick, 40; James ‘Jim’ Tutt, 64; and Juliana Farmer, 57 were brutally gunned down early Monday morning by lone gunman Connor Sturgeon.
Elliott, the bank’s senior vice president, was a friend of Governor Beshear, who had previously donated $2,000 to his 2018 gubernatorial campaign and donated to many Democratic candidates over the years.
He was well known in local and state Democratic circles and served on Beshear’s inaugural committee in 2019.
Tutt, according to his LinkedIn, was the CRE Market Executive for the southern region of the Old National Bank, where the shooting occurred around 8:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Barrick, who appears to have a wife and two young children, was a senior vice president of commercial real estate banking at the bank, where he had worked since last August, according to his LinkedIn.
Farmer – a mother and grandmother – was a credit analyst.
Thomas Elliott, 63, one of Governor Andy Beshear’s “closest” friends, died Monday morning in the mass shooting at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky
James ‘Jim’ Tutt, 64, was a Market Executive at Old National Bank who was killed Monday morning
“Today I am hurt and I am in pain and I know there are so many people out there too. We lost four children of God today, one of whom was one of my closest friends,” Governor Beshear said earlier in the day.
“Tommy Elliot helped me build my law career, helped me get governor, gave me advice on being a good dad. One of the people I talk to the most in the world and very rarely did we talk about my job.’
Rookie police officer Nicolas Wilt, 26, was also shot in the head and is in critical condition.
Sturgeon, according to authorities, was an employee of the bank who had been fired or knew he was about to be fired.
The “lone gunman” stormed into a meeting room of the Old National Bank shortly after 8:30 a.m. – about half an hour before the branch opened to the public.
The shooter wielded an AR-15 style rifle and wounded nine people, including two police officers, in addition to the fatalities.
Three victims have since been released from hospital.
Governor Andy Beshear later fought back tears when he revealed that one of his friends was killed in the atrocity – and a second was injured.
“I have a good friend who didn’t make it,” he told a news conference.
The Democrat said his attorney general campaign was walking out of the building. “I pretty much know everyone in it, that’s my couch,” he said.
During the shooting, police scanners overheard Sturgeon being “suicidal and texting a friend that he was going to “shoot the bank.” Police also confirmed that Sturgeon livestreamed the shooting on his Instagram, which has since been deleted.
The gunman was also killed in the shooting, but it’s unclear whether he died of a self-inflicted wound or injuries sustained when he exchanged gunfire with officers at the scene.
Joshua Barrick, 40, a vice president of commercial real estate at the bank, was also killed by the lone gunman
Juliana Farmer, 57, a mother and grandmother were also killed in the shooting
Officer Nicolas Wilt (center), 26, was shot in the head and is in critical condition
Joshua Barrick with his young family
Jim Tutt and his wife, Karen Tutt
Bank employees told how they fled from the blood-soaked scene and scrambled to the vault to hide from the killer as he hurtled through the building. Photos showed broken glass and pools of blood lying outside the front of the office.
Witnesses have said the alleged gunman was carrying a “long assault rifle” when he fired several shots near the conference room near the bank.
“He just started firing,” an unnamed employee told WHAS. ‘I didn’t see his face. We were in the conference room.
“Whoever sat next to me got shot, their blood is on me,” he added.
Officers arrived within three minutes and found the gunman still firing, said Deputy Chief of the Louisville Police Department Paul Humphrey. They exchanged fire with the killer.