Timeline: Louisville Old National Bank shooting was planned quickly and quietly

The deadliest mass shooting in Louisville in more than 30 years was planned within a week and without any visible signs, according to police who spent months investigating the April killings at downtown’s Old National Bank.

The gunman decided on April 3 to carry out the shooting, Louisville Metro Police’s investigation found, and acted on the plan hours after sunrise seven days later, on April 10.

Five people — Josh Barrick, Deana Eckert, Tommy Elliott, Juliana Farmer and Jim Tutt Jr. — were killed, and several others were injured, including a police officer who would be hospitalized for more than three months.

Documents released last week by LMPD determined the shooter, Connor Sturgeon, 25, did not log “any vast search history involving guns, violence or any evidence of long-term planning leading up to the shooting.” Most of his internet searches involved sports and generally nonviolent video games, and a review of his actions at the bank found he lacked a firm understanding of how to use the gun.

But journal entries — which included more information about his possible motives — and other information found by police during the investigation give a closer look at the speed in which he planned and carried out the shooting.

Here is a timeline of events leading up to the day of the shootings:

April 3

The first journal log recovered by police was written seven days before the shooting.

On April 3, a Monday, Sturgeon wrote out a list of issues in the world that concerned him (including gun access, climate change, a lack of mental health care and "politicians w/ no interest in helping people") and that he suffered from depression despite having a "blessed life" with a good job and healthy relationships outside work.

April 4

A day later, he bought the rifle used in the shooting, a Radical Firearms RF-15 purchased with accessories for about $763 total at River City Firearms in Louisville. The process that Tuesday morning took about 45 minutes, he later wrote.

Police said he looked up several local gun ranges, but throughout the rest of the week there is no record that he went to any of those locations before the shooting. In its investigation, LMPD found the gunman "did not have a firm understanding of how to operate his weapon system" based on footage from the bank.

Police said he also told a family member on that Tuesday that he wanted to go on leave from work "stemming from a panic attack he had on that Monday."

April 6

According to LMPD’s investigation, the shooter’s family said he’d had an appointment on April 6, a Thursday, with a therapist he’d been seeing. At that meeting, he reportedly "made no statements to indicate self-harm or hurting others." Changes were made to increase dosage units of medication he'd been taking.

April 9

On Easter Sunday, he spent time with his family during the day, where he "showed no signs of anything being wrong." That night, he wrote an entry listing his motives and expressing surprise about how "easy" it had been to act on his plan and placed blame for his actions on the National Rifle Association, a pro-gun lobbying group.

April 10

The shooting that Monday lasted about eight minutes, police found.

The gunman arrived at the office at 8:15 a.m. and began shooting about 20 minutes later, firing at victims who were meeting in a conference room on the first floor of the bank's branch in downtown's Preston Pointe complex.

From April: A Louisville corner changed forever: How 9 minutes of terror unfolded at Old National Bank

LMPD officers began their response at 8:38 a.m., the report said, with gunfire exchanged between the gunman and responding Officers Nickolas Wilt and Cory Galloway at 8:41 a.m.

Wilt was hit in the head — he was hospitalized that morning and would not be released until late July. Galloway killed the shooter at 8:43 a.m., with police working to clear the building afterward. The shooter fired more than 40 rounds in all, police found.

LMPD's 65-page report on the shooting can be viewed on its website.

Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Old National Bank shooting in Louisville: New timeline shows planning