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At least four people were killed in a shooting in Louisville

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

In Louisville, Kentucky, police say five people are dead and eight others hospitalized after a shooting at a bank. It happened this morning, and details are still sketchy. But we've got Roberto Roldan of Louisville Public Media on the line. Roberto, what can you tell us?

ROBERTO ROLDAN, BYLINE: Yes. So it's really early here. Most of the information that we have is still very preliminary. We've had about two or three press briefings this morning. What we do know is that just after 8:30 a.m., police said they received a call of a shooting in a bank. Police said they arrived on scene within three minutes and heard gunfire. They engaged with the suspect, and he died. We don't know at the moment if police killed him or if he shot himself. The area - or the bank is called Old National Bank. Deputy Police Chief Paul Humphrey said it appears that the gunman had some sort of connection to the bank.

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PAUL HUMPHREY: It appears the shooter was - I don't know if it was an active employee or a former employee, but the shooter did have a connection to the location.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. Roberto, what do we know about the building, the bank building itself?

ROLDAN: So the bank is in kind of a large multistory building right across from Slugger Field, which is a minor league baseball stadium. It's got a bank on the ground floor. But there are also several stories of commercial and residential condos. A lot of the commercial up top is also finance-related. But there are a lot more than just the folks who work at this bank that were in this building and basically had their mornings disrupted by this tragedy that was going on on the first floor.

MARTÍNEZ: Do you know if police have the situation contained? I mentioned how there was five people dead, eight others hospitalized. Are they still looking for other victims, or is what we have, as far as numberswise, pretty much what it is?

ROLDAN: I think what we have, as far as numberswise, is what it is. You know, I think they're - we're getting updates regularly from officials, city officials and police officials, about the status of some of the victims who have been hospitalized. But the area does remain an active crime scene. There's still a lot of police presence. There's still an active investigation. But I think the sort of the perimeter around the bank building has gotten slightly smaller as they shift to investigation rather than rescuing survivors.

MARTÍNEZ: I heard the governor of Kentucky briefed everyone just a little while ago. What'd he have to say?

ROLDAN: Yeah, it was a very emotional press briefing. He called it a tragedy. Governor Andy Beshear actually has a connection to this building, he said. When he ran for state attorney general, his campaign was based out of this building. And he said the bank was his bank, and he knew someone who was killed and someone who was injured.

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ANDY BESHEAR: This is awful. I have a very close friend that didn't make it today. And I have another close friend who didn't either, and one who's at the hospital that I hope is going to make it through. So when we talk about praying, I hope people will.

ROLDAN: And Governor Beshear credited local officials and local officers with saving lives through their quick response. That's something that the mayor of Louisville has said as well.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's Roberto Roldan of Louisville Public Media. Roberto, thank you very much.

ROLDAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

A Martínez is one of the hosts of Morning Edition and Up First. He came to NPR in 2021 and is based out of NPR West.
Riane Roldan
Riane Roldan is a Miami native and a rising senior at Emerson College in Boston, where she is the news editor at the student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon.