On Monday, a gunman identified as Connor Sturgeon entered the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, where he killed five people and injured eight before being shot dead by police. Sturgeon, 25, was an employee at the bank and had live-streamed the shooting on Instagram.
According to reports, he had learned that he was about to be fired from the bank and had left a note for his parents and a friend explaining his intention to commit the shooting.
Sturgeon was a former star athlete at Floyd Central High School in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, where he played basketball, football, and ran track. However, a former classmate revealed that Sturgeon had suffered from multiple concussions while playing football, which led to him wearing a helmet during basketball games. The classmate also stated that Sturgeon had suffered a couple more concussions in high school.
Link between concussions and aggression
There is growing evidence of a link between concussions and aggression. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head, which can result in impaired thinking and memory, aggression, mood swings, depression, and paranoia. In recent years, several football players have been diagnosed with CTE, including Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder in 2015 and found to have had chronic CTE after his prison suicide in 2017.
Sturgeon’s career and alleged Instagram posts
After graduating from high school, Sturgeon went on to study finance at the University of Alabama, where he earned his master of science in finance in 2020. He worked as a summer intern for the Old National Bank for three consecutive years while attending the university and eventually joined the bank as a commercial development professional in 2021 and a full-time associate and portfolio banker last year.
Screengrabs from Sturgeon’s Instagram account, which has since been taken down, show him appearing unsteady in the hours leading up to the shooting. His alleged final posts included meme photos with captions such as “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it” and “I could burn this whole place down.” His last post allegedly read: “They won’t listen to words or protests. Let’s see if they hear this.”
Victims identified
The four victims of the shooting were high-ranking members of the Louisville bank branch. They were identified as Tommy Elliott, 63, and Joshua Barrick, 40, both senior vice presidents; Jim Tutt, 64, a market executive; Juliana Farmer, 45, a commercial loan specialist; and Deanna Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer.
Police are still investigating the motive for the shooting, but Sturgeon’s history of concussions and alleged Instagram posts are raising questions about the link between concussions and aggression.
