A man whose wife hid in the basement when a disgruntled former employee stormed into the Old National Bank armed with an assault rifle described the “painful phone call” he received.
Caleb Goodlett told reporters at the scene of the shooting in Louisville on Monday how he received a panicked call from his wife while locked inside a bank vault begging him to call 911.
Fortunately, he said, the metro police were already aware of the situation. Authorities said they arrived on the scene just three minutes after Connor Sturgeon, 25, opened fire at a morning meeting, killing five people and wounding eight others.
Sturgeon was also killed at the scene after a shootout with police.
Friends and neighbors have described the former high school sports star as “soft-spoken” and “very friendly” — and they can’t understand what drove him to commit such a violent act.
Caleb Goodlett told reporters at the scene of the shooting in Louisville on Monday how he received a panicked call from his wife while she was locked inside a bank vault.
The shooter has been identified as Connor Sturgeon, 25, a former bank employee
He speaks to the local news station wlky As the investigation into the massacre continues Monday, Goodlett said he received a phone call around 8:30 a.m. from his wife and rushed to the scene.
He said, “I got a call from my panicked wife,[saying]that she’s locked in the basement, that there’s an active shooter in the building and for her to call 911.” By the time I called 911, they already knew.
“I was approaching the scene right as the first officers were approaching the scene, no time was lost, they tried to breach the building first,” Goodlett said.
“They didn’t succeed in the first breach, so they backed off and pushed us back, and we got people out of their cars in the middle of the street.
Then we saw another round back into the building, heard multiple shots, and then everything calmed down. That’s when the ambulance started arriving, shooting, etc.
He said that his wife, whom he did not name, knew that the National Bank’s old protocol for such a situation was to hide in the cellar, noting that it was the safest place on the premises, and said she was able to contact him while he was inside.
It was just a very painful phone call to arrive straight at 8.30, but LMPD did a great job of closing the scene, and they got us right in – very impressive to watch from the street.
“You know, you watch the news, you see everything go downhill, you think about how you would handle this situation if it had arisen within your family,” he said.
She and I have had this conversation many times – hit the panic button, go to the basement, don’t fight, don’t do anything, lock yourself up, hide and let her go.
His wife survived the massacre that claimed the lives of Thomas Elliot, 63, Joshua Barrick, 40, Juliana Farmer, 45, James Tutt, 64, and Diana Eckert, 57.
Two police officers were also wounded, one of whom was in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Thomas Elliott, 63, a “close” friend of Governor Andy Beshear, died Monday morning in a mass shooting at Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky. Also killed was James ‘Jim’ Tutt, 64, a marketing officer for the bank
Joshua Parikh, 40, the bank’s vice president of commercial real estate, was also killed by the lone gunman, as was Juliana Farmer, 45.
The death of Diana Eckert, 57, an executive managing officer at the bank, was announced Monday night
Authorities said they reached the old National Bank site within three minutes of Sturgeon’s shooting
Members of the Louisville Metro Police and ATF federal agents were photographed outside the bank as the investigation continued Monday
A Louisville police officer was photographed outside Sturgeon’s Camp Taylor home after the massacre
Authorities said Sturgeon, who was recently fired from the bank, stormed into a conference room with an AR-15 rifle shortly after 8:30 a.m. — about a half hour before the branch opened to the public.
Friends said he was suicidal and broadcast the shooting live.
Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said officers arrived within three minutes and found the shooter still firing.
They exchanged gunfire with Sturgeon, who died at the scene.
Videos showed officers at the scene running out into the street during rush hour traffic and warning drivers to get out of the car because there was an “active shooter”.
At least three gunshots are heard in the footage.
The pictures also showed blood splattered on the steps leading to the bank, and broken glass on the ground.
Officers were later spotted outside his home at Camp Taylor, and seized a computer as evidence.
Kira Algere, who lived next door to him in Louisville, said she couldn’t say anything bad about the sturgeon.
Sturgeon is pictured here with his father, Todd, mother, Lisa, and younger brother, Cameron
Now, many were appalled that Sturgeon—who had a middle-class Indiana upbringing and “quiet” demeanor—could have taken up arms against his former employer.
Neighbors described the 25-year-old and his housemate as “good neighbors and seem like good people”.
Kira Algier, who lived next door to him in Louisville, even went so far as to say that she “couldn’t really say a bad thing about the guy,” whom she described as “very quiet” and “soft-spoken.”
“We’ve invited over a couple of times to cook over the summer, you know, very friendly,” she said of the sturgeon and his housemate. “I just don’t understand.”
The 25-year-old attended the University of Alabama before attending Manderson Graduate School of Business in the same college.
He has been working at Old National Bank as a union assistant and portfolio banker since July of last year, according to his LinkedIn profile.
A former friend and teammate of Sturgeon’s from high school earlier described the gunman as smart, popular, and a star athlete in high school track, football, and basketball.
He was the 2016 NTSPY winner for Boys Athlete of the Year and won the Evansville regional crown in the 400m during the 2015-16 season, going on to finish 20th at the state meet.
Sturgeon was also named to the National Flag of Merit in 2015.
