LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Cherokee Triangle business owner narrowly avoided injury after police say someone fired shots into their business Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Louisville Metro Police Department, officers with LMPD's Fifth Division responded to a report of a shooting in the 1000 block of Bardstown Road around 1:30 p.m.
When police arrived, they saw that shots had been fired into the business.
There were no injuries as there were no customers inside the building at the time of the shooting. However, police say the owner was inside during the shooting.
In an update Thursday afternoon, an LMPD spokesperson said a police investigation found that someone, "who appears to suffer from a level of mental illness," was trying to shoot a specific person inside the business.
Once the suspect fired into the business, they then fired at a second person in a neighboring apartment. Police say both victims knew the suspect.
It's unclear if the suspect was trying to target the business owner.
LMPD is investigating the incident and are working to secure a warrant for the suspect's arrest.
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Across the street from where the incident occurred, Frankie Blice owns and operates the Vintage Barber Lounge. Blice said that he and a couple of his employees were watching the scene in the aftermath of the shooting.
"Only one of [us] heard the shots," he said. "He said it was like four shots. And he thought it was construction at first."
While to him a bit shocking, Blice said he never felt threatened by the scene.
"I didn't think that it was anything dangerous, because the police didn't come out like they were, you know, pulling guns out or anything," he said. "We were all just kind of just trying to check it out and see what was going on."
Blice has been operating out of his Highlands barbershop location for four years. Despite the recent uptick in violent crime in the area, he said he feels just as safe as when he moved there.
"We've been here for years, and I've never had anything happen like that before," Blice said. "Like when you're in a busy area, one of the busiest in the city, with all these businesses, you kind of feel like anything like that can happen kind of anywhere."
But District 8 Councilwoman Cassie Armstrong said she understands the fears some may have.
"I hear a lot from people with concerns about public safety," she said. "Over the past couple of years, we saw violent crime increase in our city and it scared a lot of people, understandably so."
Though, she also points out that year-to-date, city-wide crime in Louisville is down. She said, according to LMPD data shootings are down 40% year-to-date and carjackings are down 20% year-to-date.
"By this time last year, we had had 13 non-fatal shootings in the Highlands. At this point in this new year, we have had none," she said.
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