© Reuters. Two police officers advance toward a mass shooting suspect who was lying on the ground at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, USA, April 10, 2023 in a still image from police body camera video. police. The video was digitally blacked out at source. low
2/2
By Sharon Bernstein and Julia Harte
(Reuters) – The desperate race of a rookie police officer and his training officer to stop a mass shooting at a Kentucky bank was captured in sober but dramatic detail in footage from their body cameras released by authorities on Tuesday.
The footage, shown by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department during an afternoon briefing and later posted to Twitter by police, comes a day after a Louisville bank employee killed five people and injured others. nine, including the two officers, while live streaming a video of the attack on Instagram.
The body camera footage begins with a console image of the police cruiser as it pulls up to the downtown building. The steering wheel spins wildly from side to side as Rookie Officer Nickolas Wilt drives the car and his partner, Cory Galloway, yells directions off-camera.
“Get up, get up, get up,” Galloway yells. Gunshot sounds. “Back off! Back off! Back off!” he yells again.
Arriving just three minutes after dispatching them, Wilt readies his pistol as Galloway removes a rifle from the trunk and the camera feed goes up the steps to the bank building. A burst of gunshots is heard as the suspect fires at officers from inside the lobby.
Both officers appear to go down, but Galloway gets to his feet and runs downstairs to hide behind a planter. He waits a few seconds, hears more gunshots, then leans out and seems to react to seeing Wilt down. “Damn!” he yells.
Backup appears on the scene about three minutes after Galloway and Wilt.
“The shooter has an angle on that officer,” Galloway says. “We have to get there.”
“God,” he yells two minutes later, “don’t have an angle!”
After more shots, Galloway, who was also wounded, beats the gunman, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, from his position on the steps.
“Suspect down,” Galloway yells as he enters the building.
Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey, who spoke during Tuesday’s presentation, explained that Wilt was also depressed. He had been shot in the head but he was alive. According to the latest report, he remained in critical condition.
“What you saw on that video was absolutely incredible,” Humphrey said after showing body camera video of both officers and a bystander. “There are only a few people in this country who can do what they did.”