In the span of an hour and a half Tuesday night, four people were shot in Louisville. A man and a teenager died. Two others were injured.
Both non-fatal shootings and homicides have been on a downturn since a spike in 2020 when police reported 741 people shot, 155 fatally.
Of the 125 non-fatal shootings so far this year, 25 victims were children.
9:01 p.m.
According to a Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson, officers responded to a shooting at 3533 Versaille Lane in Okolona. When officers arrived, they found a man in an apartment who had been shot several times in the chest. LMPD’s media and public relations commander Sgt. Matthew Sanders said the man was sent to U of L Health and went into surgery less than an hour later.
That man died in surgery late Tuesday night.
By 11:30 p.m., LMPD’s Homicide Unit arrested and charged 31-year-old Nathan Short with murder. Short told them he shot the man multiple times in the chest after an argument broke out between him, the victim and a woman. Short’s arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.
9:13 p.m.
Officers responded to the incident in Okolona, LMPD officers responded to another shooting at West Market Street and Amy Avenue in the Shawnee neighborhood. Sanders said police found a boy who had been shot in his left leg. The boy was taken to U of L Health, and Sanders said he is expected to survive.
LMPD’s Non-Fatal Shooting Squad is investigating the incident, and no arrests have been made.
9:19 p.m.
Police responded to the 3400 block of Garland Avenue in the adjacent Chickasaw neighborhood. Officers found a teenage boy lying in the front yard of a home. He was shot in the head, and he was pronounced dead at the scene, Sanders said.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office later identified the victim as 14-year-old Johnathon Rodgers.
Sanders said LMPD’s Homicide Unit is also investigating this incident and have not made any arrests.
10:25 p.m.
The fourth shooting Tuesday night happened in the Portland neighborhood. When officers arrived, they found a man shot in the head, lying in the street at the 500 block of N 20th Street. Sanders said the man was transported to U of L Health, and he is in grave condition.
Due to the man’s injuries, Sanders said the Homicide Unit will be investigating the shooting. LMPD said they do not believe any of these incidents are related to each other.
“The Greenberg Administration is taking significant action to make Louisville safer by investing in the resources needed to address violent crime and protect more lives,” Kevin Trager, Mayor Craig Greenberg’s press secretary, said in a statement.
Trager highlighted Louisville Metro’s Group Violence Intervention program, a group created after a surge in gun-related deaths in 2020. The program hosts “gang-involved teenagers” that meet with community leaders to discuss “new pathways to a better life,” Trager said.
