LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg was at dinner with his family Saturday night when he learned about the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.
“My heart dropped,” he said. “It just brought back an experience for me that, it weighed too close to home.”
In February 2022, as Greenberg was campaigning for mayor, a 21-year-old gunman walked into his campaign office and fired multiple shots just feet away from Greenberg and his staff. No one was injured, but the mayor said a bullet grazed the back of the clothing he was wearing.
On Monday, Greenberg extended his condolences to the victims of the shooting at Trump’s rally, as well as the former president and his family.
“We know firsthand the incredible pain that they are all going through right now. The memories and feelings of surviving an assassination attempt during a political campaign are still very fresh for me,” he said. “A life-changing event like this can make us better or it can make us bitter.”
Greenberg said he was fortunate to survive the attempt on his life with “more resolve than ever” to lead Louisville toward progress. He hopes the same happens across the country after Saturday’s shooting.
“There is no place for violence in politics. And really there is no place for violence anywhere in America," Greenberg said. "This is not the America anyone wants, so let’s change it. We can’t allow political violence to become the norm, and we can’t think this won’t happen again if we don’t all change just a little bit.”
The mayor echoed sentiments from President Joe Biden and other lawmakers to “lower the temperature” in the political world.
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“Absolutely no good came from Saturday’s heinous act of gun violence, but let’s hope it’s finally the wake-up call some of us always hope for when there’s a tragic act like this,” he said, later referencing mass shootings at Old National Bank in Louisville and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. “A wake-up call to address the carnage that keeps happening when people use deadly assault weapons to kill other people, just as was used Saturday night to try and kill former President Trump.”
Greenberg advocated for more respectful, open conversations on shared goals across the political aisle, like ending gun violence and improving public education.
“We all want a safer community,” he added. “Let’s listen to one another, let’s learn from one another, and finally – finally, make more progress to achieving these shared goals that all of us as Americans share in common.”
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