LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An issue currently garnering some of the most attention from the Louisville community is the shooting of two teenagers in the Chickasaw neighborhood from last week.
The community is awaiting the release of body camera footage, after Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) says an officer "unintentionally" discharged his gun -- one bullet hitting both the teens.
The shooting happened on Feb. 20 around 6 p.m., but details from police into what happened weren't revealed until the following day just after 3 p.m.
The now 9-day wait for body camera footage has left many in the community frustrated.
WHAS11 asked both Mayor Craig Greenberg and Interim Police Chief Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel about this during a news conference on Thursday, when they revealed new investments into the police department.
At one point during former Mayor Greg Fischer's administration, prior to the death of Breonna Taylor, it was common practice for LMPD to release body camera video within 24 hours, so WHAS11 asked them to explain to the public why that's no longer the case in situations where the department has opted to investigate its own officer-involved shootings -- most notably the one from Chickasaw and another at Shawnee Park in July 2022, which also took multiple days for the video to be released.
"Let me put emphasis on [the fact that] that was the previous administration. Now, we have this administration," Gwinn-Villaroel said. "We want to make sure that we have received all significant actuarial statements from officers being involved in that incident."
Greenberg went a step further.
"The chief and I -- and other members of her team, of my administration -- we've already had conversations about evaluating this policy. We're evaluating the policy for how we move forward in the future," he said.
The mayor said the release of body camera footage in the Chickasaw neighborhood shooting is expected to be released on Friday.
A Fischer administration policy instituted back in 2020 set a precedent where LMPD would ask Kentucky State Police (KSP) to investigate all LMPD officer-involved shootings where someone is hurt, with goals of increasing accountability and transparency.
WHAS11 asked KSP if a backlog in cases across the state has forced them to deny requests for certain investigations out of Louisville.
This is the response WHAS11 received on Monday:
KSP cannot direct a local law enforcement agency on any matters.
KSP spoke with LMPD shortly after the shooting occurred on Monday. Based on the preliminary details presented by LMPD to KSP it was mutually agreed upon that LMPD would handle the investigation.
KSP works with local law enforcement departments to provide assistance when requested. A decision is made after a discussion between the two agencies and based on many factors including the details surrounding the incident, the number of open cases currently being investigated by CIRT or the local post, personnel availability, and services being requested.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.