News reporters and photographers stand outside of a bank building in downtown Louisville, the scene of a mass shooting Monday morning. Photo by Randy Hobson.
The city of Louisville, Kentucky, is reeling following a mass shooting at a business just two blocks away from the Presbyterian Center Monday morning. As many as five people are known to have been killed and eight others, including two police officers, were wounded. Police say the alleged shooter is also dead. The shootings began around 8:30. Few other details have been released while investigators are still on the scene.
Once the shootings began, the Presbyterian Center went into lockdown, preventing people from entering or exiting the building. In less than two hours, a brief prayer service was held in the third-floor chapel. Kathy Lueckert, president of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, opened the service.
“It’s a beautiful morning and yet death is all around us. It’s a sad commentary that we have to have a service like this. We should not be here as we think about what has happened so close to us,” she said. “I think of first responders who are processing all of this. I think of all those families who went to work today and won’t go home tonight. Life is so fragile and here we are again, thinking about the epidemic of gun violence in this country. There never seems to be enough death or casualties to make a difference. I don’t know what anyone can do to stop this epidemic, but it must stop. Louisville is a small place. Many of us will have connections, so keep each other in our prayers.”
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement late Monday morning following the shooting.
Kathy Lueckert, president of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, opens a short prayer service just hours after the shooting that occurred two blocks away. Photo by Rick Jones.
Kerry Rice, deputy stated clerk, and valerie izumi, manager of GA Nominations in the Office of the General Assembly, read scripture during the chapel service. Photo by Rick Jones.
“How many more times will we have to cry out, ‘How long, O Lord!’ Today we mourn the loss of our neighbors. One more time, just two blocks away from us, blood has been shed,” he said. “We offer our prayers of consolation for those who have suffered injury or loss and we cry out yet again, to all not directly caught up in this violence, in the words of Bob Dylan’s painful ballad, ‘How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?’ To the leaders among us who have failed to adequately address the curse of gun violence in our country, and who continue to block legislative efforts to curtail the proliferation of weapons designed to kill, we say, once again, ENOUGH!”
The city of Louisville is facing an uptick in shooting deaths, including a drive-by shooting Monday morning around the same time as the shooting near the Presbyterian Center. The two incidents are not connected.