Washington, United States: Five people were killed and at least eight others were injured in a shooting targeting a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday, according to police, who claimed the gunman had been neutralised.
The shooting, the 15th mass killing in the country this year, comes just two weeks after a former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville, about 160 miles (260 kilometres) to the south.
Police tweeted that calls had come in around 8:30 am (1230 GMT) for an “active aggressor” at the Old National Bank in Louisville, the largest city in the southern state and that officers were on the scene in “minutes.”
“Five people have been confirmed to have been killed inside. At least six were transported to University of Louisville hospital, including one officer with various injuries,” a police spokesman told a press conference, adding he could not confirm the status of the injured.
“There is no active danger to the public at this time,” said the spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Paul L. Humphrey.
“There is no longer an active aggressor threat. The suspected shooter has been neutralized,” the police department confirmed on Twitter while urging residents to stay clear of the area.
The incident triggered a massive police deployment outside the Old National Bank building.
CNN reported that some people had been able to take refuge in the bank vault and lock themselves in — contacting police from inside.
Fox affiliate WDRB cited a witness saying she heard multiple gunshots and breaking glass while in her car at an intersection near the site of the shooting.
“Gunfire erupted, like, right over my head,” said the woman, who gave her name only as Debbie. “When I turned, I saw that one of the windows in the bank had been blown out,” she added.
Governor Andy Beshear tweeted that he was headed to the scene, adding: “Please pray for all of the families impacted and for the city of Louisville.”
The United States, a country of around 330 million people, is awash with some 400 million guns, and deadly mass shootings are a regular occurrence.
Efforts to tighten gun controls have for years run up against opposition from Republicans, staunch defenders of America’s constitutional right to bear arms. The political paralysis endures despite widespread outrage over recurring shootings.
In the latest illustration of the deadlock, two Tennessee lawmakers were expelled from the state legislature last week after staging a floor protest calling for tougher gun control, in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Nashville.
This year’s 15 mass shootings is the most during the first 100 days of a calendar year since 2009, when 16 incidents had occurred by 10 April, according to a mass killings database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
Going back to 2006, the first year for which data has been compiled, the years with the most mass killings were 2019 and 2022, with 45 and 42 mass killings recorded during the entire calendar year. The pace in 2009 slowed later in the year, with 32 mass killings recorded that year.
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