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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The parents of a man who shot and killed five coworkers at a Louisville bank spoke out Thursday, recalling their son’s struggles with mental health over the last year.
In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show, Lisa and Todd Sturgeon apologized to those affected by the mass shooting and said their 25-year-old son, Connor Sturgeon, shouldn’t have been able to buy an AR-15 assault-style rifle because of his mental state.
On April 10, Connor Sturgeon killed five coworkers and injured eight others while live-streaming before Louisville police fatally shot him.
“We’re so sorry. We’re heartbroken. We wish we could undo it, but we know we can’t,” Lisa Sturgeon said.
“If we could take it back, we would,” Lisa added later.
The five people killed at the bank were Joshua Barrick, 40, a senior vice president; Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer; Tommy Elliott, 63, also a senior vice president; Juliana Farmer, 45, a loan analyst; and Jim Tutt Jr., 64, a commercial real estate market executive. Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt, 26, was one of the eight injured and remains in critical condition but is making an “encouraging” recovery.
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Shooter bought rifle during mental health crisis
Lisa and Todd Sturgeon said their son’s mental health struggles began about a year ago, with panic attacks, anxiety, and a suicide attempt. But the Sturgeons said they thought it was being managed as their son was seeing a psychiatrist and taking medication.
Lisa Sturgeon told the “Today” show that her son called her on April 4, six days before the shooting at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville. He told her that he had a panic attack at the bank the day before and had to leave work.
She said the two had lunch the following day, and she set up his next psychiatrist appointment and joined him there on April 6.
“We thought he was coming out of the crisis,” Lisa Sturgeon said.
The Sturgeons had no clue their son had legally purchased an assault rifle and ammunition from a federally licensed firearms dealer on April 4, the same day he had called his mother. They were told that their son was able to walk into the store and walk out with the weapon and ammunition in 40 minutes, Todd Sturgeon said.
The last time the Sturgeons saw their son was at a family gathering on Easter Sunday, a day before the attack. Todd and Lisa Sturgeon said he seemed fine and was helping children find the last eggs in the egg hunt.
The next morning, Lisa Sturgeon said her son’s roommate called saying Connor told him by phone: “I’m going to go in and shoot up Old National.” She called 911 but her son was already at the bank.
“He did this,” Lisa Sturgeon said. “And he did it to totally innocent individuals. There was no provocation, no justification, no rationalization – at all. They were just trying to do their jobs, to provide for their families. And they will never be the same, due to his actions.”
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Parents of shooter saw no warning signs
Todd Sturgeon said they have no idea what prompted their son’s murderous assault with an assaultrifle he had just bought, and they fear that whatever they come up as a cause still isn’t going to make sense.
And Lisa said there was no “clear tell” that he would erupt in violence. She said she and her husband decided to speak out to put other parents on alert.
They said their son should not have been allowed to buy a firearm, given his mental condition, though Todd acknowledged it is hard to “thread the needle” to protect the public while safeguarding individual rights.
While the families of four of the victims declined to comment, Barrick’s family said in a statement to Today that the shooting “didn’t have to happen.”
“The fact that anyone can walk in and buy a semiautomatic weapon, its only purpose being to kill many in seconds, is simply wrong. Enough is enough. Inaction is not an option,” the statement read. “We deserve to be safe in our communities — whether that be at the bank, the grocery store, our schools, or anywhere else.”
Contributing: The Associated Press
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