LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The parents of the gunman who killed five people in a mass shooting at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville on April 10 have spoken out about their son's inexcusable actions.
In an exclusive interview on NBC's The Today Show, Todd and Lisa Sturgeon expressed grief for the victims and their families. The Sturgeons also revealed new details about the 25-year-old shooter's mental health.
Connor Sturgeon's mother said her son struggled with mental health in the year leading up to the tragedy which left five people dead and several others injured.
Among the injured was rookie Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt, who remains in critical condition at this time.
Lisa Sturgeon said her son called her on April 4 saying he was having a panic attack. That's the same day, LMPD said the gunman legally purchased the rifle used in the shooting.
Two days later on Thursday, April 6, the gunman's parents told NBC they joined him for a psychiatrist appointment.
Sturgeon's father said the shooter was seeing two mental health professionals yet was still able to purchase an AR-15.
"From what we have been told is that he walked in...and walked out with a weapon and ammunition in 40 minutes," he told Gutherie.
The gunman's mother said her son should have never been able to purchase that gun because of his mental condition.
During the interview with NBC, the Sturgeons expressed their condolences to the families of those impacted by their son's actions, saying they are unimaginably heartbroken for them.
"We wish we could undo it, but we know we can't," she said during the interview. "He did this to totally innocent individuals. There was no provocation, no justification, no rationalization at all."
The Sturgeons told Gutherie they were worried about doing the interview for fear of inadvertently disrespecting the victim's families.
"Our heart is just shattered for them and what they’re going through,” Todd Sturgeon said.
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In the two weeks since the shooting, the Sturgeons shared that they stay up at night thinking of all the things they could have done differently.
"Well-meaning people keep saying to us that you did what any reasonable parents would have done, but Connor in his darkest hours, needed us to be exceptional -- not reasonable," Todd Sturgeon said, choking up. "And we failed him, we were not exceptional."
Lisa Sturgeon told Gutherie they had no idea what was coming -- she said her son only had anxiety and panic attacks.
"Even when he was telling me that he was sort of in a crisis, we thought we had it handled, we thought it was being managed," she said. "It would have been bad enough if we had just lost our son, but for him to take others with him...it's beyond what we've taught him, the way we live...we're always saying do no harm. He didn't do that."
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