Mass Casualty Events Are Not Always What You Think | Louisville Part II

Who needs good PR?

May 07, 2023

This is a follow-up post. You can read the first part here.

Now that we see from the released footage that it’s unclear exactly what went down at Old National Bank, it’s time to dig into some of the characters presented by the media.

We’ll start with a truly inexplicable coincidence. Governor Bill Lee and his wife apparently lost two friends during the Nashville shooting1 the week prior to the Louisville incident where Governor Andy Beshear lost a friend…or two…maybe three?

“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.”
—Governor Andy Beshear

Is Governor Beshear popular or what?!? What are the odds that back to back mass shootings with national attention would take out multiple friends of governors? Does this mean something? Are they conspirators? Targets? Later in the speech, Beshear shares some information that might be relevant. He said the office for his successful attorney general campaign was in the same building as the shooting and the location targeted was his bank. He essentially knew everyone in that building, except people like the 25-year-old alleged mass murderer Connor Sturgeon who had only worked there a short while of course.

Is it purely political convenience that Governor Beshear was pushing for red flag gun laws in the gubernatorial debates2 and we now have a guy who had recent mental health struggles snap for seemingly no reason? How many people could you lump under the same mental health category? Is it not incredible that a country that doesn’t provide healthcare as a human right is so caught up in the gun violence conversation? Something is amiss.

The Witnesses

My first observation was clocking the shortness of breath in the first man who speaks in this video. How fast did the news team get set up after this minutes-long incident? Later in this interview, he said he ran out the door while the shooter was still firing. We know there was a standoff with police that lasted several minutes, so why is he still out of breath? This reminds me of theatre actors that need to come on stage out of breath (as if they had just run a long distance) so they do sprints in the back hallway prior to making their entrance.

The breathy man pointed out some blood on the back of his shoulder from “whoever” was sitting next to him. Did this man not know the person sitting next to him at his own meeting? When did he realize he had a little bit of blood on the back of his shirt? Notice how he tries to hog the interview by pulling focus from the other man.

This photo taken in September 2022 shows Louisville mass shooter Connor Sturgeon, far left, smiling while doing volunteer work. The man on the far right is his colleague Troy Haste. — Connor and colleague Troy Haste (seen in the video above).

In the last part of the interview, you see the news reporter awkwardly holding the man’s hand. Does this seem sincere? Well, I guess it is mainstream news.

In this less-than-riveting interview, Inside Edition finds the friend of a girl who supposedly dated Connor. She said Connor grabbed her friend’s arm (leaving a bruise) and was just a big old rude meanie. It’s quite the stretch to connect this behavior with a seemingly random mass shooting.

His neighbor describes him in a completely different way…

While I was looking back at the live coverage from WHAS11, they mentioned that the hospital U of L Health—which is a mere 4 minutes away—was locked down following the incident. This reminded me of the hospital used for most of the Pulse night club victims in Orlando. It went on a code red lockdown3 and was even closer to the scene of the crime. Another parallel between to the two is the timing of the shooting. This bank was about twenty minutes from opening, so it was only staff inside. In Orlando, Pulse had already made last call.

I noticed that a bunch of people who seemingly survived the shooting were holding water bottles. Is it standard protocol to hand out water bottles to unharmed people at a crime scene? Is that priority? It has been noted in the past that FEMA drills have lots of bottled water4 on hand and Governor Beshear mentioned the Department of Homeland Security was present.

About two and a half weeks after the incident, Connor’s parents did an interview with The Today Show.

I wouldn’t have done this interview if I were them, but at least it wasn’t immediately after like we have seen in other mass casualty events. What was their reasoning for coming forward?

“There was no clear tell. So, this could happen to someone else and we don’t want that to happen. That’s why we’re here.”
—Lisa Sturgeon (Connor’s mother)

If you had no clue whatsoever that your son was going to commit mass murder (or owned a gun for that matter) how exactly are you helping by saying this? Apparently, his folks were active participants in his therapy that he received for recent panic attacks. He was open enough to share his issues with his family, but not open enough to mention he was having violent thoughts?

When asked if their son should have been able to buy a gun, we all of a sudden have a lowkey pitch for red flag gun laws from both parents. “Absolutely not,” Lisa quickly answered.

“I think the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want people in an impaired state to have a weapon in their hand.”
—Todd Sturgeon (Connor’s father)

Wait. Would we consider someone having a panic attack and making an appointment with a psychiatrist to be in an “impaired state?” Are we suggesting that everyone who sees a psychologist or psychiatrist be in some kind of database? Of course Connor had to see a psychiatrist over a psychologist, because they are the ones that dish out the pills. We always need the quiet pharma angle in these stories don’t we?

The father confirms that they had no clue that this could happen, so they’re only input seems to be “the guns” in this 10-minute interview.

The Victims

From the infamous Instagram Live that Connor allegedly streamed during the shooting, a woman apparently saw Connor enter the bank5 with an AR-15. She apparently thought it was some strange adult version of show-and-tell and simply said “good morning” to him. The rest of the interaction reportedly went like this:

“You need to get out of here,” Sturgeon tells the woman in the video, then tries to shoot her in the back when she turns to flee.
His first attempt to gun down the woman fails because the safety on his rifle is still on and it is not yet loaded, according to the official speaking to CNN.
After Sturgeon removes the safety and loads the rifle, he takes aim at the woman who greeted him just moments earlier and strikes her in the back. Her condition is unknown.

Connor could hardly fire a gun but somehow ambushed a pair of officers later on? Okay. How do we not know the “condition” of the woman? She either died or she didn’t. Where is this Instagram Live that is allegedly in police possession? Why are news outlets reporting on it if they can’t verify these rather specific claims?

The day following the event, a GoFundMe page6 was launched for a victim named Josh Barrick which quickly blew past its initial $50,000 goal. It was apparently organized by family friend Alison Conway, whose LinkedIn page7 tells us she is a marketing and communications professional with an account manager position at RedTag.

According to their website, “RedTag joined forces with the Louisville Metro Police Department to illuminate the captivating stories of individuals who proudly wear the badge of a police officer. We crafted heartfelt, interview-style narratives that delved into the profound experiences and responsibilities that accompany policing in the vibrant city of Louisville, KY.” They’re working on “humanizing the badge” at LMPD. Remember this for later.

Three days after the event, the children of Juliana Farmer would launch an ambitious GoFundMe with a goal set at $240,000. Juliana’s story is interesting as she reportedly lived in Louisville for only two weeks8 and had just learned the day before that her son was expecting to have a child.9 Apparently her daughter A'lia Chambers is asking for her mother's old job10 to continue her legacy. I wouldn't want to work where my mother was brutally murdered, but maybe that's just me.

Straying from the norm, a GiveSendGo11 campaign was launched for Deana Eckert and is struggling to reach its $20,000 goal. The organizer is Meredith "Molly" Tonnies, whose LinkedIn page12 doesn't raise too much suspicion. However, it's worth noting that she is a sponsor for The United Way, which is an organization known for creating a victims page for Sandy Hook 3 days before it happened.

The group Victims First, which was formed after the Aurora movie theater shooting back in 2012, launched a general victims GoFundMe13 with an original goal of $65,000, but curiously stopped accepting donations when they hit $13,456.

It's worth noting that $10,000 came from an “offline” contribution from PennyMac which is headquartered in Westlake Village, CA. PennyMac was founded during the subprime mortgage crisis14 by the former president of Countrywide Financial Stanford Kurland with financial support from BlackRock (shocker) and Highfields Capital Management.

It doesn’t appear there are fundraisers for Old National Bank executives Tommy Elliot—a friend of the governor’s—and Jim Tutt Jr.—presumably the other person the governor was “friends” with.

LMPD wasted no time in launching a fundraiser for the allegedly injured Nick Wilt.

That’s some serious cash for the rookie cop and apparently there are more donations coming in offline. Is it strange that his LinkedIn page15 says he works for Louisville Metro Government and not LMPD?

Who Needs Good PR?

It’s interesting that a woman connected to the company that’s working on “humanizing the badge” in Louisville is an organizer for one of the GoFundMe pages, especially after the Justice Department’s recent scathing review16 of the LMPD. Much of the criticism comes from LMPD's heinous no-knock murder of innocent EMT Breonna Taylor back in March of 2020.

An officer with no history becomes an instant hero.

Just like that, Officer Wilt became an instant hero17 when LMPD desperately needed one. This large sign was donated by Signs Now and the building space was donated by “community member” Troy LeBlanc, who can be seen laughing in the background of his own press conference dedicated to this unveiling with Supporting Heroes Executive Director Eric Johnson. Supporting Heroes is an organization to give support to police, fire and EMS personnel, but their website18 ironically doesn't seem to mention Breonna Taylor.

Troy was introduced as someone who “stays under the radar,” but apparently not.19

Of course, Democratic Governor Beshear needs some good PR as the Republican primaries are in full swing20 and the winner will be looking to unseat the incumbent. Nothing like losing friends in a horrible tragedy while standing up for the police in a red state to earn you some sympathy votes.

Maybe this has something to do with Kentucky House Bill 15321 that would "prohibit identified entities from adopting rules, regulations, or ordinances that require enforcement of federal firearm bans."

This whole event doesn’t quite feel right, does it?

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