- The Louisville gunman’s parents told the “Today” show he shouldn’t have been able to buy a gun.
- They said their son had been struggling with his mental health in the year before the attack.
- He was able to buy a gun in less than an hour just days before he opened fire at a bank, they said.
the parents of the louisville gunslinger who killed five people on a bench earlier this month he said his son should never have been able to buy the AR-15 he got “in 40 minutes” a few days before the shooting.
In an interview with Savannah Guthrie, Todd and Lisa Sturgeon, parents of the 25-year-old shooter, said their son had been in treatment for mental health issues in the weeks before the incident.
They said that due to his state of mind, he should not have been able to buy a gun so easily.
“We know Connor was seeing two mental health professionals and he was able to get in,” Todd Sturgeon said on the “Today” show. “From what they have told us, he went in … and came out with a gun and ammunition in 40 minutes.”
“Due to his mental condition, he should not have been able to buy the gun,” added Lisa Sturgeon. “If there had been a delay or something of that nature, that would have been helpful.”
The Sturgeons told Guthrie that their son had been struggling with his mental health for the past year and had experienced panic attacks and anxiety, and had attempted suicide. They said that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor, and that he was taking medication for his condition.
Guthrie was told things seemed to have “settle down,” but six days before the shooting, he called his mother to tell her he was having a panic attack, didn’t know the cause, and wanted to take some time off work.
His mother said she made an appointment with the psychiatrist. He added that the fact that he might have been suicidal was “inconceivable” to her because he was so willing to talk to her about what was going on.
“We thought he was coming out of the crisis,” Lisa Sturgeon told Guthrie.
Investigation shows that “the vast majority of people with severe mental illness are never violent” and that America’s gun violence problems are not necessarily caused by people with mental illness. Quite, studies have shown that access to weapons is the “main culprit” of gun violence.
—TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 27, 2023
Anyone over the age of 18 can buy an AR-15 in Kentucky
The Sturgeons last saw their son on Easter Sunday and said everything seemed normal that day. They said they had no idea that he had bought a gun five days earlier.
Lisa Sturgeon said she was “gobsmacked” when she got a phone call from her son’s roommate the next day to tell him what was going on.
“Where did he get a gun? We don’t have any guns,” he told Guthrie he remembered thinking.
Police said the 25-year-old was able to legally purchase the gun. according to CBSand The New York Times reported you bought the gun from a local dealer. His parents told Guthrie that he was able to buy a gun and ammunition for $600 that day.
in kentuckyanyone over the age of 21 can legally buy a gun, and anyone who is at least 18 years old can buy an AR-15, reported local media ABC WHAS 11.
The Sturgeons believe that something must be done about gun access in America and that, in their case, the issue of guns and mental health are inextricably linked. They admitted they have no idea what caused their son’s actions.
“It would have been bad enough if we had lost our son. But for him take others with him it’s just that it’s beyond what we teach it, the way we live,” Lisa Sturgeon told Guthrie. “We always say ‘do no harm’. He didn’t do that.”
To the families of those who were killedoffered a message: “We’re so sorry. We’re heartbroken. We wish we could undo it, but we know we can’t.”
The family of victim Joshua Barrick told the “Today” show that he “did nothing to deserve this, he just went to work one day like all of us. The fact that anyone can walk in and buy a semi-automatic weapon, that’s the only purpose of killing many in seconds, is simply wrong.”
His statement continued: “Enough is enough. Inaction is not an option. We deserve to be safe in our communities, whether it be at the bank, the grocery store, our schools, or anywhere else. We are simply heartbroken, this does not have what to happen”.
