Officials say a public auction will most likely be held for the lawfully purchased AR-15-style gun that was used in a deadly workplace shooting at a bank in Louisville.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called for a reform in the way confiscated guns are handled during a press conference held the day after five people were killed.
A police officer is one of the four patients who are still in the hospital.
The killer, a young bank employee, had bought the semi-automatic rifle on April 4.
In the past, Mayor Greenberg, who was in danger of dying in a gunshot at his campaign office the previous year, has criticised Kentucky’s approach to police-seized firearms.
As of right now, state police receive all firearms seized by local law enforcement, even those used in homicides, and they subsequently auction them off for sale.
The mayor gave local law enforcement in February instructions to temporarily deactivate confiscated firearms and attach warning labels before turning them over to state police for resale.
The labels read: “Deadly weapons like this one caused 146 killings by gunshot wound in Louisville in 2022. They resemble the health warnings on cigarette packaging. Children died in fourteen of those accidents.
At the news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Greenberg stated, “Under existing Kentucky law, the assault rifle that was used to kill five of our neighbours and shoot at rescuing police officers will one day be auctioned off.” “Consider that. The murderous tool will reappear on the streets.
Police said that they would later release bodycam footage taken by first responders at the Old National Bank site in downtown Louisville.
A police officer who joined the department last month after graduating was hit in the head on Monday and is still in critical condition, according to officials. Officer Nickolas Wilt, age 26, of the Louisville Metro is who he is.
According to the hospital, three other survivors are still there at the University of Louisville Hospital in fair but stable health.
The shooting’s fatal victims have all been named:
John Thomas Elliott, 63
James Tutt, age 64
Age 40 Joshua Barrick
35 Julianna Farmer
(57) Deana Eckert
At least 147 mass shootings, which are ones in which at least four people were shot, have occurred thus far in 2023, according to data collated by the Gun Violence Archive, including at least 16 since the beginning of April.
In the roughly 628,000-person metropolis, according to Mr. Greenberg, 40 people have perished from gun violence this year.
As he told reporters, University of Louisville Health Chief Medical Officer Jason Smith, who has overseen the treatment of the injured, broke down in tears: “When you hear someone screaming mother or daddy, it just gets too hard to come in day in and day out and do that.
Everybody is caught up in it eventually.
What is known about the victims of the Kentucky bank shooting
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According to the police, the 25-year-old suspect broadcast the shooting online while using an AR-15-style semi-automatic gun.
According to Louisville Metro Police Department interim chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, he purchased the firearm from a nearby store.
Officials reported that the attacker was a current worker at Old National Bank. He had never before interacted with the police.
Kentucky is one of 26 states that don’t require a permit for the majority of persons over 21 to buy and carry a gun.
Officials reported that the attacker was a current worker at Old National Bank. He had never before interacted with the police.
Kentucky is one of 26 states that don’t require a permit for the majority of persons over 21 to buy and carry a gun.
