Louisville Metro Police Department at the site,the incident happened.Photo/APNEWS
A Louisville bank employee armed with a rifle opened fire at his workplace on Monday morning, killing at least five people while he livestreamed the attack on Instagram, authorities said.
Police arrived as shots were still being fired inside Old National Bank and killed the shooter in an exchange of gunfire, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said. The city’s mayor, Craig Greenberg, called the attack “an evil act of targeted violence.”
The shooting which is the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, about 260 kilometers to the south.
Gwinn-Villaroel identified the shooter as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, who she said was livestreaming during the attack.
While Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that they had “quickly removed the livestream of this tragic incident this morning.”
Social media companies have imposed tougher rules over the past few years to prohibit violent and extremist content.
These companies have set up systems to remove posts and streams that violate those restrictions, but a shocking material like the Louisville shooting continues to slip through the cracks, prompting US lawmakers and other critics to lash out at the technology industry for slipshod safeguards and moderation policies.
Nine people, including two police officers, have so far been treated for injuries, University of Louisville Hospital spokeswoman Heather Fountaine said in an email.
Writing by Tersoo Nicholas