Todd and Lisa Sturgeon, the parents of Louisville gunman Connor Sturgeon, sat down with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie to tell the “TODAY” show host they had no indication their son was prone to violence.
“We had no real indications that something like this could have happened,” Lisa told Guthrie in an April 27 interview. “There was no clear tell.”
Sturgeon, 25, opened fire at the Old National Bank in Louisville on the morning of April 10, where he was an employee. The victims, also employees at the bank, were in a meeting when Sturgeon entered and began shooting inside the conference room, bank manager Rebecca Buchheit-Sims said. Lisa called police at approximately 8:40 a.m. after learning from her son’s roommate that he was going to “shoot up Old National,” NBC reported.
The next moments were surreal, Lisa recalled, telling Guthrie she was confused because the family did not own guns.
Lisa made a frantic 911 call that morning, telling the operator, “But we don’t even own guns; I don’t know where he would have gotten a gun.”
“He’s never hurt anyone; he’s a really good kid. Please don’t punish him,” she reportedly continued. “He’s nonviolent; he’s never done anything.”
The parents of the Louisville bank shooter are speaking out.
In an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, airing in full tomorrow morning, Todd and Lisa Sturgeon expressed their sorrow to the families of those their 25-year-old son killed and injured before he was… pic.twitter.com/vrmeclSGSd
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 26, 2023
Todd told Guthrie that when it became evident shots were fired at the bank, “You go from praying for his life to praying that this is unimaginable, that he just commits suicide and doesn’t hurt anyone else.” (RELATED: Hero Cop Shot In The Head By Louisville Gunman Had Been On The Force Just 10 Days)
“It would have been bad enough if we had just lost our son,” Lisa added. “But for him to take others with us — with him — it’s just — it’s beyond what we’ve taught him, the way we live. We’re always saying do no harm. He didn’t do that.”
The Sturgeons told Guthrie they struggled to find the right time to reach out to the families of the victims out of fear of being disrespectful. When pressed what they would say to the families of those killed in the attack, Lisa replied,“We are so sorry. We are heartbroken. We wish we could undo it, but we know we can’t.”
“Well-meaning people keep saying to us, ‘You know, you did what any reasonable parents would have done.’ But Connor in his darkest hour needed us to be exceptional, not reasonable — and we failed him,” Todd said.
“We failed those people,” Lisa added.
Josh Barrick, 40; Deana Eckert, 57; Tommy Elliott, 63; Juliana Farmer, 45 and Jim Tutt, 64, were killed in the bank shooting.