According to police, a gunman who appears to be a former employee opened fire in a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday morning, killing five people and injuring eight others.
The gunman entered the Old National Bank in Louisville’s downtown area, near Slugger Field, around 8.30 a.m. and opened fire, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Within minutes, police arrived on the scene and exchanged gunfire with the mass shooter.
Cops said the gunman was killed during the incident.
According to LMPD deputy chief Paul Humphrey, investigators are still trying to figure out whether the gunman committed suicide or was killed by officers during the shootout.
Two police officers were among those injured, one of whom is in critical condition at the University of Louisville Hospital.
The conditions of the other injured victims were not immediately known.
The identities of the slain victims have not been released by police, but an emotional Gov. Andy Beshear revealed at a press conference that one of his friends was killed and another was injured in the shooting.
“I have a very close friend who didn’t make it today,” he sobbed, adding that he hoped his injured friend “would make it through.”
According to witnesses, a man wielding a “long assault rifle” fired several shots on the first floor of the bank building.
“He just started firing,” said one witness. “I couldn’t make out his face. We were in the meeting room. Whoever was next to me was shot, and their blood is on my hands.”
Footage from the scene appeared to show one of the bank’s windows blown out and glass strewn about.
When the shooting started, the bank was not open to the public.
Debbie, a driver, told WDRB that she had stopped at the traffic lights just outside the bank when she saw a man who appeared to be injured lying on the entrance steps.
Then, she heard gunfire.
“I didn’t know if it was going at the bank or out of the bank I took off,” she said. “When I turned, I saw that one of the windows in the bank had been blown out.”
She said multiple law enforcement vehicles immediately swarmed the scene.
“They were coming from everywhere,” she said. “The police were coming out of their cars with black rifles.”