


A chilling photo has emerged showing Louisville bank shooter Connor Sturgeon grinning while posing next to a co-worker who would go on to narrowly escape yesterday’s slaughter.
In the image taken in September, months before the massacre, the 25-year-old Sturgeon is seen at a construction site while apparently taking part in a volunteer program organized by his employer, Old National Bank.
Sturgeon is seated next to two men, all dressed in blue T-shirts with the slogan “Better Together” emblazoned across the front. The future mass shooter appears relaxed and wears an easy smile on his bearded face.
One of the young banker’s companions seen in the photo is his colleague Troy Haste, a regional account executive at Old National Bank.
Haste was in the first-floor conference room early Monday morning when he said Sturgeon walked in brandishing a long assault rifle and opened fire on his co-workers.
Haste was able to get away unscathed but was spattered with victims’ blood as he fled to safety.
A visibly shaken Haste, with droplets of dried blood still clinging to the back of his button-down shirt, later told the news station WHAS1 about the harrowing ordeal.
“He just started firing. I didn’t see his face. We were in the conference room. Whoever was next to me got shot, their blood’s on me,” Haste said.
Haste fled to a break room and shut the door behind him. While briefly sheltering in place, the bank executive said he could see Sturgeon still firing his rifle while livestreaming the rampage on Instagram.
Haste then ran out of the Preston Pointe building to safety.
Police responded to the scene in downtown Louisville around 8:30 a.m. while the shooter was still on a rampage, leaving five people dead and eight others injured.
Sturgeon was killed during a confrontation with police officers, who engaged the 25-year-old gunman.
Officials identified the five people killed in the spree as Tommy Elliott, 63, Jim Tutt, 64, Joshua Barrick, 40, Juliana Farmer, 45, and Deanna Eckert, 57.
Two of the injured were police officers, one of whom was hospitalized in critical condition and underwent surgery yesterday.
Police have yet to determine an official motive for the mass shooting, but CNN reported that Sturgeon had recently learned that he was about to be fired from the bank, where he had been employed since 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He reportedly left a note for his parents and a friend revealing his plan to shoot up his place of work.