United States: Gunman opens fire in bank, kills at least four people

Europe 1 with AFP 18:12 p.m., April 10, 2023

A gunman opened fire Monday morning in a bank in Louisville, Kentucky's main city, killing at least four people and wounding at least six before being shot, authorities in the east-central US state said. "Five people died in total. At least six more people were transported" to the hospital, Louisville police wrote on Twitter, including the shooter in the toll. "We do not know at this time the condition of those who were transported" to the hospital, Paul Humphrey, a police official in the city, said at a brief press briefing.

Total deceased is 5. At least 6 more were transported to UL hospital.

— LMPD (@LMPD) April 10, 2023

"The lone gunman is dead," police wrote on Twitter, after saying he had been "neutralized." "The population is no longer in danger," she said. "Here's what we know so far: calls reported an assailant in action around 08:30 a.m. this morning" (12:30 p.m. local time) at a downtown bank, "officers arrived at the scene within minutes," she added on the social network. Some survivors managed to find refuge in the safe room, a CNN reporter said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced that he would immediately go there.

Armed with an "assault rifle"

A witness told local station WHAS11 he saw a man with an "assault rifle" shoot at a bank. Another witness, named Debbie, told local broadcaster WDRB that she saw a victim on the ground outside a hotel as she stopped at a red light at the wheel of her car. That's when shots rang out. "I detached," she says. When I turned around, I saw that one of the windows of the bank had been broken."

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The police presence was quickly massive, she describes. "They were coming from everywhere. The police were getting out of their cars with assault rifles." A press conference is announced for 11:30 am (15:30 GMT), police said.

One more shooting

On March 27, a person opened fire at a private elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, killing three 9-year-olds and three employees before being shot dead by police. The United States is paying a very heavy price for the spread of firearms on its territory and for the ease with which Americans have access to them. The country has more individual guns than inhabitants: one in three adults owns at least one weapon and nearly one in two adults lives in a household where there is a weapon.

The consequence of this proliferation is the very high rate of gun deaths in the United States, without comparison with that of other developed countries. About 49,000 people died from gunfire in 2021, up from 45,000 in 2020, which was already a record year. That's more than 130 deaths a day, more than half of which are suicides.