LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky gun shop that sold an assault weapon to a man who used it to kill five co-workers and wrote in his journal the gun was “so easy” to buy is facing a lawsuit filed Monday from survivors and families of the victims.
The civil suit filed in Louisville alleges River City Firearms should have been more suspicious of the sale and noticed red flags when Connor Sturgeon bought the gun six days before the April 10 shooting. Sturgeon walked into Old National Bank and opened fire on co-workers who were having a morning meeting, killing five and injuring several others. A responding police officer was also shot .
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Sturgeon, 25, struggled with mental illness and wrote in a journal he was “very sick,” according to an extensive Louisville police report on the shootings released in November.
River City Firearms is a federally licensed dealer, which means sellers there are “trained to spot individuals who … may have nefarious intentions,” according to the lawsuit. Patrons inside the store said Sturgeon had little knowledge of firearms and appeared embarrassed during the purchase, the lawsuit said. The shop has a “legal duty” to withhold a sale from a buyer who it can reasonably tell might be a danger to others, the suit said.