Old National Bank shooting survivors file suit, claim gun seller missed 'red flags'

A lawsuit filed Monday in Jefferson County claims a local gun store overlooked red flags when selling an AR-15-style rifle that was eventually used to kill five in the April mass shooting at Old National Bank.

The circuit court lawsuit is filed on behalf of six plaintiffs against Louisville gun shop River City Firearms.

The plaintiffs are: Julie Andersen, Jimmy Evans, Dana Mitchell and Stephanie "Dallas" Schwartz, who were all injured in the attack but survived; and the families of James Tutt and Joshua Barrick, who were killed.

Derrick Meyers founded River City Firearms at 2915 Preston Highway in October 2015, per its articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State.

The Courier Journal contacted River City Firearms regarding the lawsuit filing, but did not immediately receive a response.

Louisville attorney Tad Thomas of Thomas Law Offices, along with Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin in Chicago and Alla Lefkowitz of the national group Everytown Law, represent the plaintiffs, who are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Romanucci & Blandin currently represent victims of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, where 19 fourth-grade students were killed, along with three adults, in May 2022.

The firm has won successful verdicts in cases brought by the families of George Floyd and Tyre Nichols, who were killed by police.

Everytown Law is a group of national litigators focused on holding gun manufacturers and sellers accountable through the court system. Lefkowitz is Everytown's senior director of litigation.

Lawsuits against the gun industry are affected by a federal law.

In 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, giving the gun industry immunity if their gun is used in a crime. (Kentucky had a similar law enacted in 1988. The state gun immunity law was deemed unconstitutional in 1991, but the federal law takes precedent.)

There are exceptions to the 2005 law, though, including negligence on the part of a seller, which is what the suit is alleging.

The Courier Journal reported in November about the lawyers' intentions to file suit against Radical Firearms, the Texas-based gun manufacturer, and Thomas said that is still possible, but for now, River City Firearms is the focus.

"A lot of (this complaint) is based upon the information we received from the Louisville Metro Police file, and what was missing from the file was any investigation into the manufacturer," Thomas said. "It's not necessarily a shift, but we want to make sure that we file strong cases, and the case against the River City is very strong.

"So that was the first one to be filed, but it may not be the last one."

This is not the first time a lawsuit has been brought against a gun seller, although "they are not very common," Lefkowitz told The Courier Journal.

The Courier Journal spoke with plaintiff Karen Tutt, whose husband Jim was running low on fuel the morning of April 10, but decided not to stop for gas.

"I wish he had," Karen Tutt said.

Instead, Jim was in the bank conference room during a monthly sales meeting and was shot and killed. Karen Tutt said for the last six months she's been in a fog, but she hopes the lawsuit brings accountability.

"I feel like I have to honor Jim," she said. "There has to be a purpose in the pain."

Suspicious behavior, lack of firearms knowledge

According to the LMPD report, River City Firearms sold an AR-15-style rifle on April 4, 2023, to Connor Sturgeon, 25, an Old National Bank employee, who pulled the rifle from a gym bag on April 10 and opened fire on fellow employees during a monthly sales meeting at Old National Bank's downtown office. (The bank has since relocated its office.)

The complaint alleges "red flags were present in spades" when River City Firearms sold the AR-15 to Sturgeon, citing his suspicious behavior and lack of basic firearms knowledge.

Sturgeon told the clerk he wanted a firearm because a friend's home had recently been burglarized, per his own notes that were included in LMPD's November report — "indicating that he wanted to buy an AR-15 for home defense, a use for which an AR-15 is particularly poorly suited for a novice shooter," the complaint states.

The complaint also mentions a witness who was inside River City Firearms during Sturgeon's purchase and who said he "demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge or experience with firearms and that he spoke in an unusually quiet tone and appeared embarrassed upon making eye contact with others, lowering his head and averting his gaze."

Sturgeon's interactions at River City Firearms left "such an impression" on the woman that after his 20 minutes at the store, she considered calling police.

"Louisville is a big, small town," Thomas said. "The woman who was at the gun shop was familiar with some of the people that worked at Old National Bank, so that is how the name got over to us.

"We interviewed her, and frankly, it was shocking that someone who doesn't sell firearms for a living would be able to recognize immediately that someone like Connor didn't need to be purchasing a firearm like this."

When news of the shooting broke, according to the complaint, the woman turned to her husband and said, "I bet it's that kid from the store."

Extra magazines, red-dot sight and vertical grip

The complaint also alleges that while River City failed to stop the transaction, it also used it to "embolden the novice shooter and made him more deadly" by selling three additional 30-round magazines, a red-dot sight to increase accuracy and a vertical grip that allows greater control of the weapon.

"Despite Sturgeon's complete lack of experience, 23 seconds was enough time for him to shoot and kill five people," the complaint states.

During his assault on the bank meeting, LMPD found, Sturgeon fired 25-30 rounds into the conference room.

The additional magazine allowed Sturgeon to quickly reload before opening fire on law enforcement, which hit Officer Nickolas Wilt in the head and Officer Cory Galloway in the chest as they entered the bank.

"If River City had not sold Sturgeon this extra large-capacity magazine, (he) would not have been able to continue firing," the lawsuit alleges.

"People who are engaged in selling firearms need to be on notice that these kind of actions have very, very real, devastating consequences," Lefkowitz said.

Plaintiff Dallas Schwartz is still dealing with trauma and stress from the bullet that hit her leg and left her in rehabilitation for nearly a month.

"I don’t want anyone to ever have to deal with what I’ve dealt with or anybody that has had to deal with that day ... not just that day but any mass shooting," Schwartz said. "If there could be any type of change, even if it’s small..."

"There’s people not here anymore that can’t fight that fight. I feel like I need to do that for them."

ATF's Top 100 list

The ATF or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms — which oversees federally licensed firearms dealers, like River City Firearms — provides resources on how to identify and prevent dangerous firearms sales.

It says gun sellers should ask about the intended use of the firearm, and it reminds them that they have "the right and the obligation to decline a sale if something doesn't feel right," according to the complaint.

"I genuinely believe that most people who are in the business of selling firearms are absolutely horrified at something like this happening and do not want this to happen," Lefkowitz said. "They don't want this on their conscience, so to the extent that our complaint can help them look at something and say, 'Look, we need to be taking a look at how we train our associates, what red flags that we look for' — that's really important because I don't think anyone wants to be involved in a situation like this."

River City Firearms was identified by Louisville's ATF field office as a Top 100 Trace Dealer, according to a 2017 inspection released to The Brady under an open records request. The Brady is a national non-profit focused on gun violence that posts its collected information online.

A Top 100 Trace Dealer is a ranking used by the ATF in relation to the number of firearms used in crimes traced back to the licensee.

That 2017 inspection also found River City Firearms had nine separate violations, including failure to obtain accurate transaction forms and failing to comply with reporting requirements.

The violations resulted in a warning letter from the ATF, the least severe form of the ATF's administrative remedies. The most severe form is a license revocation.

"This was an entirely preventable disaster," said Thomas, the local attorney for the plaintiffs. "They want accountability for their families and the victims, for the city of Louisville.

"Everybody in Louisville had a connection to these murders. I think it's important that the city see that there is accountability and hopefully people take note and maybe something is prevented in the future."

Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates at @stephkuzy.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Louisville's Old National Bank shooting survivors sue gun seller