BREAKING NEWS: Fifth victim dies in Louisville bank shooting

A fifth victim of the Louisville bank shooting has died in hospital, police confirmed on Monday evening, as the company says there are ‘no adequate words’ to tell of their loss. 

The death of Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer at the bank and a mother of two, was confirmed on Monday evening by Louisville police. 

All five were senior executives at the bank.  

Tommy Elliott, 63, a close friend of Governor Andy Beshear, was named among the dead, as were Joshua Barrick, 40; James ‘Jim’ Tutt, 64; and Juliana Farmer, 57.

They were declared dead at a press conference on Monday afternoon. 

The five were shot dead by their former colleague Connor Sturgeon, 25, when he stormed a conference room at Old National Bank at 8.30am – half an hour before the branch opened to the public.

Jim Ryan, the CEO of the bank, said on Monday evening: ‘There are no words to adequately describe the sadness and devastation that our Old National family is experiencing as we grieve the tragic loss of our team members and pray for the recovery of all those who were injured.’ 

Ryan continued: ‘Obviously, this is an incredibly difficult situation, and our entire focus is on making sure that everyone affected has the support and assistance they need. 

‘On behalf of everyone at Old National, I also want to acknowledge and thank Louisville law enforcement, the medical community and state and local officials for their incredible response to this tragedy. 

‘And finally, we ask you to please continue to pray for all those affected.’ 

Elliott, the bank’s senior vice president, was a friend of Governor Beshear and had donated $2,000 to his gubernatorial campaign in 2018.

He had donated to many Democratic candidates over the years, and was well known in local and state Democratic circles. He served on Beshear’s inaugural committee in 2019. 

Tutt was a commercial real estate executive for the southern region of Old National Bank.

Barrick, who appears to have a wife and two young children, was a senior vice president of commercial real estate arm at the bank, where he had worked since last August, according to his LinkedIn. 

Farmer – a mother and grandmother – was a loan analyst at the regional firm.

Beshear earlier fought back tears as he revealed one of his friends was killed in the atrocity – and a second was wounded. 

‘I have a close friend that didn’t make it,’ he told a press conference.

The Democrat said his state attorney general campaign was run out of the office building where the shooting took place. 

‘I know virtually everyone in it, that’s my bank,’ he said.

‘Today I’m hurt and I’m hurting and I know so many people out there are as well. 

‘We lost four children of God today, one of whom was one of my closest friends. 

‘Tommy Elliot helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad. One of the people I talk to most in the world and very rarely were we talking about my job.’ 

Sturgeon, according to authorities, was an employee of the bank who had been fired, or was aware that he was about to lose his job.

He used an AR-15-style rifle and wounded nine people, including two police officers.

Rookie police officer Nickolas Wilt, 26, was also shot in the head and remains in critical condition. He had only been in the job 10 days.

Interim Police Chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel said: ‘The next few days are important and very critical for Nickolas’s recovery.’

She said he had come out of brain surgery at University of Louisville Hospital.

Mayor Craig Greenberg said he handed Wilt his police academy graduation diploma less than two weeks ago.

‘Our city and so many from around the nation are praying for Officer Wilt’s strength and healing,’ Greenberg tweeted. ‘His heroic actions exemplify the best of law enforcement.’

The second injured officer has not been named. 

Three victims have since been discharged from hospital. 

During the shooting, it was overheard on police scanners that Sturgeon was ‘suicidal and texted a friend that he would ‘shoot up the bank.”

Police also confirmed that Sturgeon live-streamed the shooting on his Instagram, which has since been taken down. 

The gunman was also killed in the shooting, but it is unclear if he died from a self-inflicted wound or from injuries he sustained as he exchanged gunfire with officers at the scene. 

Bank employees told how they fled from the blood-soaked scene and scrambled to the vault to hide from the killer as he rampaged through the building. 

Photos showed shattered glass and pools of blood lying outside the front of the office.

Witnesses have said that Sturgeon was carrying a ‘long assault rifle’ when he fired multiple shots near the conference room at the bank.

‘He just started firing,’ an unnamed employee told WHAS. 

‘I didn’t see his face. We were in the conference room.

‘Whoever was next to me got shot, their blood’s on me,’ he added.

Officers arrived within three minutes and found the shooter still firing, Louisville Metro Police Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said. They exchanged fire with Sturgeon.

A high school friend said Sturgeon was a star athlete in Indiana, where he excelled at track, football and basketball at his school just across the Ohio river from Louisville.

But he suffered multiple concussions and wore a head guard. 

‘The big thing I keep going back to is that in the first year of high school, we played football together in eighth grade, he was out most of the year because he had multiple concussions,’ the friend told The Daily Beast. 

‘Then he had a couple more in high school. 

‘I’m not saying it’s the cause but I always think back to that.

‘There were times I’d wonder, will this catch up with him? But never in this way. He’s the last person I’d expect would do this.’ 

The friend said that Sturgeon was popular and high flying, and was nicknamed ‘Mr Floyd Central’.

His father Todd Sturgeon was Floyd Central’s head basketball coach until last year.

He previously coached the University of Indianapolis’ men’s basketball team for 10 seasons, but left in 2007 after watching his son at a basketball camp and realizing ‘maybe he’d rather have more time to spend with his own sons than other people’s.’ 

Sturgeon’s brother is a professional model.

‘I know everyone always says this about shooters but I truly would have never expected it to be him,’ the friend said.

After graduating from Floyd Central in 2016, Sturgeon went to the University of Alabama and graduated in 2020, the university confirmed. 

In a 2018 essay for the university, unearthed by The Daily Beast, Sturgeon wrote about his quest to improve his ‘discipline, responsibility, and self-esteem… so that I can improve myself as a whole.’

Sturgeon said he struggled to make friends – despite his friends seeing him as popular and a star athlete. 

‘My self-esteem has long been a problem for me,’ he wrote. 

‘As a late bloomer in middle and high school, I struggled to a certain extent to fit in, and this has given me a somewhat negative self-image that persists today. 

‘Making friends has never been especially easy, so I have more experience than most in operating alone. 

‘Furthermore, college has introduced a whole new atmosphere and new challenges, so it is easy to feel like I am not doing as well as I should be. 

‘This semester, however, I think I have begun to mature socially and am beginning to see improvement in this area. 

‘I have found that taking time out to take stock of how I feel and what I can do to feel better has helped me be more social and in turn feel better about myself.’

Sturgeon’s LinkedIn said he completed three summer internships between 2018-2020, before starting work at Old National Bank as a syndications associate and portfolio banker.

‘I am certified in the RMA Lending Decision Process, hold a Master’s in Finance from the University of Alabama, and am on the Young Professionals board for Junior Achievement of Kentuckiana,’ he wrote on his profile. 

He also hosted a basketball-focused podcast with two friends, The Daily Beast said, and tweeted about the NBA. 

He also posted shows of support for the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, as well as criticism of police violence and of Donald Trump.