Connor Sturgeon, the gunman who carried out a massacre at a Louisville bank earlier this year, was an anti-gun activist, police have revealed.
Documents containing entries from 25-year-old Sturgeon’s journal have just been released by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department.
According to his journal, Sturgeon hoped that he could force radical new gun control laws by killing “upper-class white people.”
Sturgeon was killed by police gunfire after he stormed into the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville with an assault rifle and carried out the massacre.
Before shooting up his place of employment, Sturgeon reportedly left a voicemail for a friend saying he felt “suicidal” and planned to “kill everyone at the bank.”
He also left letters to his roommate and parents revealing his deadly plan, though it’s unclear when the notes were discovered.
Sturgeon was reportedly on the verge of getting fired from his job as an associate and portfolio banker at the bank, where he was hired full-time after completing three consecutive internships beginning in 2018.
He barged into the bank around 8:30 a.m. and opened fire with an AR-15 assault-style rifle he purchased last week while livestreaming the massacre on social media.
Sturgeon killed five co-workers — including a close friend of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear — and injured eight others.
Two officers were wounded in the exchange of fire with the gunman.
Rookie cop Nickolas Wilt, 26, was shot in the head on the steps of the bank.
He underwent brain surgery and survived the shooting.
Police have now revealed a clearer picture of Sturgeon’s motivations by releasing pages from his journal.
In an April 3, 2023, entry, he cited his frustration over the “climate disaster” and “gun access.”
Sturgeon wrote, “I have decided to make an impact.
“But because I was depressed and able to buy (guns?) they are gone.
“Perhaps this is the impact for change–upper-class white people dying.”
On April 9, 2023, the day before the shooting, Sturgeon wrote: “This is not an accident.
“I’m sorry I had to lie all week, but this is something I have to do.
“It has all been planned, and it is flawed but I think it will work.”
Later in the paragraph he wrote, “I pray this can send a message to those in power that they are not invincible.
“I’m sorry for everything.”
The night before the attack Sturgeon wrote, “This is intentional.
“There is nothing anyone could have done.”
The victims killed by Sturgeon were all employees of Old National Bank.
The bank was not open to the public at the time of the shooting.
The victims have been identified as Tommy Elliott, 63, a senior vice president; Jim Tutt, 64, a market executive; Joshua Barrick, 40, another senior vice president; Juliana Farmer, 45, a commercial loan specialist; and Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer.
Elliott was a close friend and mentor to Beshear.