The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, Democrat Craig Greenberg, slammed the state’s gun laws during a press briefing after the bank shooting that left five dead.
Mr Greenberg was speaking on Tuesday after Monday’s assault on Old National Bank in downtown Louisville.
“To those in the national media that are joining us here today, this may be even more shocking than it is to those of us locally who know this and are dealing with this,” Mr Greenberg said.
“But under current Kentucky law, the assault rifle that was used to murder five of our neighbours and shoot at rescuing police officers will one day be auctioned off. Think about that,” he added.
“That murder weapon will be back on the streets one day, under Kentucky's current law,” he said. “My administration has already taken action to remove the firing pin before turning confiscated guns over to the state. Because that's all that the current law allows us to do.”
“That's not enough,” he said.
“It's time to change this law. And let us destroy illegal guns and destroy the guns that have been used to kill our friends and kill our neighbours,” he added.
The shooter, Connor Sturgeon, 25, killed five people and wounded eight others. Those killed in Monday’s attack have been identified as Josh Barrick, 40; Tommy Elliott, 63; Jim Tutt, 64; Juliana Farmer, 57; and Deanna Eckert, 57.
Sturgeon went on his rampage after being notified that the bank where he had worked since 2021 was ending his employment, law enforcement sources told CNN.
The shooter also left a note for his parents and a friend telling them that he was going to attack the bank, the source added.
Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said during a press conference this week that Sturgeon fired at responding officers, who returned fire to “stop that threat”. She confirmed that the suspect was shot and killed by police.
Two different investigations are ongoing after the bank shooting.
Lt Col Aaron Crowell told reporters during the briefing on Tuesday that “because of the complexity of the scene, we had made the determination yesterday to segment the internal shooting ... between the shooter and the employees, a homicide investigation and then the Public Integrity Unit will be the external shooting incident, which was between the suspect and the officers”.
“So there [are] two separate investigations going. Local Metro Police will be handling the Public Integrity Unit and the homicide investigation,” he added.
Mr Greenberg slammed the level of gun violence in Louisville as “horrific” as he called for reform.
He said 40 people have been killed by guns in the city this year. He urged all levels of government to take action.
“That level of gun violence is beyond horrific,” he said.
“We have to take action now,” he added. “We need short-term action to end this gun violence epidemic now so fewer people die on our streets, and in our banks, and in our schools and in our churches. And for that, we need help. We need help from our friends in [the Kentucky Capital of] Frankfort and help from our friends in Washington, DC.”
“This isn’t about partisan politics. This is about life and death. This is about preventing tragedies,” he said. “You may think this will never happen to you, never happen to any of your friends or loved ones. I used to think that. The sad truth is that now no one in our city, no one in our state, no one in our country has that luxury anymore.”
“Last year, I survived a workplace shooting. And now yesterday, I lost a very close friend in another workplace shooting,” Mr Greenberg said.
