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Louisville gunman's family questions if prior concussions factored into mass shooting

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a rare disorder that describes brain degeneration caused by repeated head trauma, according to the Mayo Clinic.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Connor Sturgeon's family has asked the state medical examiner to look into whether or not past concussions contributed to the deadly mass shooting in downtown Louisville earlier this week.

Sturgeon, 25, has been identified as the gunman by Louisville Metro Police.

He used a rifle to open fire on a conference room in the Old National Bank where employees were meeting Monday morning. Five people were killed and several others were injured.

Attorney Pete Palmer, who is representing the Sturgeons, said the gunman was seeking mental health treatment for anxiety and depression.

Sturgeon was seeing a psychiatrist and counselor and was on medication, but the family's lawyer couldn't say how long the treatment was going for.

Palmer says the family has also asked the state medical examiner to look into the possibility that chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) could have been a contributing factor that caused the mass shooting.

What is CTE?

According to the Mayo Clinic, CTE is a rare disorder that describes brain degeneration caused by repeated head trauma. Symptoms include difficulty with thinking and emotions, as well as other physical problems and behaviors.

Sturgeon had three "concussions of significance" while playing sports in school -- two in middle school for football and one in early high school for basketball-- all of which he had sought medical treatment for, Palmer said.

"We see that with professional athletes, but we also see it in high school and college as well. And some people are more susceptible than others," Dr. Ryan Stanton, an emergency physician who works at a large community hospital in Lexington, said.

Stanton said CTE is hard to diagnose because concussions cannot be ruled out on a brain scan while someone is alive. "You diagnose a concussion based on symptoms a person is describing," he said.

"You can't 100% say someone has CTE [until after death] when you can look at somebody, and you look at the behaviors and the changes and the outcomes...and then you start to put it together," Stanton said.

Stanton said it usually takes about 10 years from the start of contact sports or repeated brain injuries for someone to have what would be considered CTE.

Morgan Hall, a spokesperson for the state medical examiner, said there were several tests and lab results pending on the autopsies.

"Until all tests are complete and results have been issued no information will be released," Hall said in a statement.

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