Dramatic police body camera footage released Friday shows officers outside a Louisville Kroger grocery store engaged in a shootout with a suspect who was killed in the firefight.
Police responding to a report of an active shooter Thursday evening came upon the suspect who had been firing off rounds inside the market, Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Steve Conrad told reporters.
“The man that was shooting inside the store … came out of the store, was firing as he exited the store, fired shots at our officers, our officers returned fire, killing that man,” the chief said Thursday.
Let our news meet your inbox. The news and stories that matters, delivered weekday mornings.
The early evening violence happened after police were called to a report of “some sort of shooter in the Kroger,” police Major Jamey Schwab told reporters in a follow-up news conference Friday.
Two officers in a patrol vehicle nearby were first on the scene, Conrad said Friday. One officer ran toward the store, took cover, aimed his handgun and, yelled, “hey, hey, hey,” while opening fire on a man in a red hooded sweatshirt, the video shows.
The second officer’s video shows him taking cover and training his rifle on a target. Audio from his body camera device includes someone saying, “I got ’em,” and, “Still moving.”
The suspect’s identity will be released by the Louisville coroner, police said.
Authorities believe the man drove a Hyundai SUV to the market, went inside and “assaulted” someone “near the meat department” before shooting a gun at the ceiling, Schwab said.
It’s not clear if that victim was injured.
“One round caused a water line near front to burst,” Schwab said.
The gunman was pronounced dead at the scene, police said, but not before responding officers tried to save him, the police chief said.
The officers who opened fire were identified as Patrick Norton and Alex Dugan, both with about three years on the job.