Police body camera video released Tuesday shows the chaotic moments when police arrived at the scene of a mass shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville, as the shooter they couldn't see from the street rained bullets down on them. The videos, taken from two wounded officers' lapels, offer a rare perspective of police officers responding to a massacre that killed five and injured eight others Monday, the AP reports. One, a rookie officer, was shot in the head within minutes of arriving at the scene, as his partner was grazed by a bullet and sought cover while still trying to take down the shooter.
Louisville Metro Police Department Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey walked reporters through edited footage and still photos at a new conference Tuesday and praised the responding officers for their heroism. They received the call of a shooting at Old National Bank at 8:38am, and the two officers arrived three minutes later, according to a chronology provided by police. They hadn't even gotten out of the patrol car when the gunman began firing on them. "Back up, back up, back up,” one officer shouted as gunshots thundered in the background. One still image from surveillance video showed the shooter, who worked at the bank, holding a rifle, surrounded by broken glass inside the building. He had already shot numerous people inside, and police said he set up an ambush position to attack officers as they arrived.
Officer Cory Galloway retrieved a rifle from the trunk of the patrol car. "Cover for me,” he said. Galloway was training rookie Officer Nickolas Wilt, who had graduated from the police academy just 10 days earlier. The videos show them walking up the stairs toward the front door when the gunman fired a barrage of bullets. Wilt was shot in the head. Galloway’s body camera shows him taking cover behind a concrete planter at the bottom of the staircase leading to the building. "The shooter has an angle on that officer," he is heard saying in the video. "We need to get up there." As other officers arrived, more gunshots are heard. Galloway fired toward the gunman, then shouted, "I think he’s down," and advanced into the building. Galloway was grazed in the shoulder.
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"I think you can see the tension in that video," Humphrey said. "You can understand the stress that those officers are going through. ... They did absolutely exactly what they needed to do to save lives. Once officers arrived on scene, not another person was shot." The video shows Galloway approaching the suspect, who lay on the ground inside the lobby. As he walked, shards of broken glass crunched under his feet and the shooter’s body can be seen with a long rifle next to it. Wilt was transported in the back of a police car to a hospital. He was still in critical but stable condition Tuesday, according to University of Louisville Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Smith. (More Louisville stories.)
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