‘We are so sorry’: Old National Bank gunman’s parents apologize in TODAY interview

April 27, 2023

Hannah Woosley-Collins,

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) — The Old National Bank gunman’s parents profusely apologized to the Louisville community for their son’s actions on April 10 in an exclusive interview with TODAY.

The emotional interview of Lisa and Todd Sturgeon that aired Thursday morning revealed more about their son’s state of mind leading up to the shooting — but his parents said still, there’s no “provocation, no justification, no rationalization at all” for what he did.

Lisa shared with Savannah Guthrie that her son called her on April 4 explaining he’d had a panic attack. She set up an appointment with a psychiatrist the next day and she and Todd both joined him for the meeting.

“He was willing to talk to me. He had told us before he would never do such a thing like that to us,” Lisa told Savannah. “We thought he was coming out of a crisis.”

The same day of his apparent panic attack was the day he legally purchased an AR-15 from a Louisville dealership, Louisville Metro police told news media in a press conference following the shooting.

“We know that Connor was seeing two mental health professionals and that he was able to walk in,” Todd said in the interview. “From what we have been told is that he walked in … and walked out with a weapon and ammunition in 40 minutes.”

Six days later, on April 10, he opened fire on his coworkers while live-streaming on social media. He killed five people and wounded eight more. Louisville officers ultimately killed him.

His parents say their son shouldn’t have been able to purchase the gun and profusely apologized for his actions.

“We are so sorry. We are heartbroken,” Lisa emotionally told Savannah. “We wish we could undo it, but we know we can’t.”

“He did this to totally innocent individuals,” she added. “There was no provocation, no justification, no rationalization at all.”

The five people killed were identified as Tommy Elliott, 63; Deana Eckert, 57; Josh Barrick, 40; Jim Tutt, 64; and Juliana Farmer, 45.

One of the eight injured in the shooting is still hospitalized, in critical but stable condition.

Officer Nickolas Wilt, a 26-year-old who was only on his fourth shift when he was one of the first to respond to the bank, was shot in the head. He underwent brain surgery and has been in a medically-induced coma since.

The families of four victims declined to comment on TODAY inquiries, but the family of Josh Barrick shared the following statement with them:

“A husband was taken, a father was taken, a brother and son was taken. He did nothing to deserve this, he simply went to work one day just like all of us do. The fact that anyone can walk in and buy a semiautomatic weapon, its only purpose being to kill many in seconds, is simply wrong. Enough is enough. Inaction is not an option. We deserve to be safe in our communities — whether that be at the bank, the grocery store, our schools, or anywhere else. We are simply heartbroken, this didn’t have to happen.”