Louisville bank shooter bought AR-15 rifle 'legally'

Chicago, April 12

The bank shooter, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, bought an AR-15 rifle "legally" a week ago and used it to "target" his victims at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville in the US' Kentucky state, leaving five people dead and eight others injured on Monday morning.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Louisville Police Interim Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel confirmed the shooter was a bank employee, and bought on April 4 at a local gun dealer the weapon used in Monday's attack, Xinhua news agency reported. The victims were all bank employees, aged between 40 and 64.

Two police officers were injured, with one taking a bullet to the head and still in critical condition.

Louisville Police on Tuesday released three pieces of videos from the bank shooting. One video shows the suspect walking in the bank holding a rifle. Bodycam video from an officer shows the suspect shot from inside at officers approaching outside. The officers could not see inside the building on their approach. A third video from a bystander shows the officer was forced down the steps leading to front door of the bank and took shelter.

No official motive for the killing has been determined.

Local police made to the scene in three minutes. Police said Monday that the suspect was killed in exchange of fires with police.

The incident started around 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky's largest city.

There was a heavy police presence at the scene, with damaged glass and discarded medical equipment at one location, local media reported Monday after the shooting happened. Gunshots could be heard on video clips posted on social media Monday.

Gwinn-Villaroel said Monday the shooter had broadcast live the attack on Instagram.

In the latest gun violence, one man died and three other people were hurt in a shooting at a funeral home in Washington D.C. on Tuesday.

There have been 147 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people are shot, excluding the shooter.

Meanwhile, more than 11,650 people have lost their lives to gun violence in the past few months, the website's data showed.