LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Days after a mass shooting at the Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, the community gathered for a city-wide vigil to honor the victims and survivors.
Five people were killed in the shooting, many others were injured – including Louisville Metro Police Officer Nickolas Wilt, 26, who remains in critical condition.
“We come together this evening to acknowledge that every violent death is tragic,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said. “When we are talking about the lives lost to violence, there is no hierarchy of grief. There is only the shocking reality that someone who is here is suddenly gone.”
Greenberg said this vigil is not only for the victims and survivors of this week’s tragedy. He said 40 residents have been killed in Louisville by gun violence in just over 100 days.
“There will be a time to act,” he said. “That day is coming. Today, we mourn. We were not meant to go through tough times alone, and luckily, we don't have to."
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave an emotional speech, saying he is heartbroken by this tragedy.
“Acts like this tear at the very fabric of humanity, who we are and certainly who we want to be,” he said.
Beshear thanked the emergency responders who put their lives in danger to save lives, including Officer Wilt. He also thanked the hospital staff who helped treat victims quickly.
"I lost one of my best friends on Monday, but I've got two friends and more who survived because LMPD got there in about three minutes. I want to thank you all," Beshear said.
PHOTOS | Vigil honors victims, survivors of downtown Louisville mass shooting
The governor was tearful as he spoke about one of his personal friends who was killed in the shooting, 63-year-old Tommy Elliott.
“While I am not angry, I am empty. And I’m sad,” he said. “I just keep thinking maybe we will wake up. What I know is I just wish I had taken an extra moment made an extra call, told [Tommy] how much I cared for him.”
He told the community to hug their family tight tonight and call their friends now.
“We can live for the fallen,” Beshear said. “We can live better for them, we can be better for them.”
Other speakers at the vigil spoke about how they are tired of the gun violence epidemic in America.
Dr. Muhammad Babar, a community leader and geriatrician at UofL Health, said he is tired of “hollow words and prayers on social media after each incident of mass shootings," which brought attendees to their feet.
“It does not matter whether you are Republican or Democrat, whether you live in urban spaces or rural communities, whether you own a gun or not,” Babar said. “Please do something! We all just want this epidemic of death to end which is wearing down our nation.”
Congressman Morgan McGarvey (KY-3) told the story of going to the hospital and talking with the mother of Officer Wilt.
"His mom had just seen the body camera footage, and she said, 'I was looking at his hands to see if he was scared. They never shook, and that's my child,'" McGarvey said.
State Senator Gerald Neal (D) said mass shootings are entirely predictable and that it was tragically not out of the normal when news broke on Monday.
“Why haven’t we done more?” he said. “This makes no sense…there can be no division on the issue of safety.”
The night ushered in people from all walks of life, including Old National Bank CEO Jim Ryan, whom people in Louisville publicly heard from for the first time following the shooting.
"Make no mistake, these were extraordinary people. They were loving, generous and gifted," he said of the five people who were killed.
Louisville native Whitney Austin also spoke at Thursday night's vigil. Austin was shot 12 times during a 2018 mass shooting at the Fifth Third Bank headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“Monday morning was heartbreakingly familiar to me,” she said.
Austin said she was thankful that the community was coming together to honor and support those impacted by this latest tragedy.
She said it was the support of her community that helped her recover and encouraged Louisville to do the same for the victims’ families and survivors.
"Please don't forget about them next week, don't forget about them next month, and don't forget about them next year,” Austin said. "They're going to need your support for the rest of their lives."
Austin launched the WhitneyStrong Organization to drive conversations about reducing gun violence after recovering from her injuries.
“I know it is very difficult to find hope in these moments," she said. "When you feel broken and defeated like we all do now, this is the most important moment for you to find hope because it is only through hope that you can find the strength to take action and it is only through action that change will ever come.”
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