Man slain during Louisville protest
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A city reeling from four straight nights of violent protests woke Monday to learn that the owner of a beloved West End eatery had been shot by police and National Guard troops responding to gunfire.
David McAtee, known in the Russell neighborhood for his popular barbeque stand outside of Dino’s Food Mart, was killed early Monday morning as Louisville Metro Police and National Guard were trying to break up a “large crowd” in the parking lot of the mart at West Broadway and 26th Street. He was 53.
Gov. Andy Beshear ordered Kentucky State Police to investigate the shooting, which will be a joint effort between the FBI Louisville Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District, federal officials said.
Hours after the governor publicly asked Louisville officials to release a “significant” amount of body camera footage from the incident “as soon as possible,” the city announced there wasn’t any.
Two LMPD officers involved in the shooting had either not activated or were not wearing body cameras during the incident, Mayor Greg Fischer told the public Monday night.
The mayor also said he fired LMPD Chief Steven Conrad on Monday. Conrad had announced last month that he would retire at the end of June amid mounting public pressure following the police killing of 26-year-old ER Tech Breonna Taylor.
“This type of institutional failure will not be tolerated,” Fischer said.
On Monday morning, Conrad told the public that at about 12:15 a.m., someone from the crowd in the Dino’s parking lot area shot at authorities.
Police returned fire, killing McAtee. No one else was injured.
Conrad said it is unclear if the victim was the person who fired at officers, but there are “several persons of interest” who were being interviewed following the shooting.
Surveillance footage and police radio transmissions were released by LMPD Monday evening, but there don’t appear to be clear-cut answers.
However, “dozens” of officers were at the scene, according to the recordings. Several protesters and Russell residents at the scene Monday afternoon questioned why so many officers and troops were there prior to the shooting in the first place.
The most significant protest on Sunday night was happening about 20 blocks away.
Officials also haven’t said whether the crowd was made up of protesters or customers, and some activists have questioned whether there was a protest in the lot at all.
Acting LMPD Chief Rob Schroeder said the department will review the incident to determine whether any other policy violations occurred, and there “will be discipline” for failing to use cameras, Schroeder said.
When asked if other officers at the scene were wearing cameras, he said that’s part of what the investigation will determine.
“That is completely unacceptable,” Schroeder said. “And there is no excuse for their clear failure to (follow) our policy.”