Search results
Jim was preceded in his death by his parents, his parents in law, Zerelda (McKahn) Fry, John O Fry, sisters and brother in law, John O. Fry, Jr, killed in WWII; Mary (Fry) Cleaver, Robert Cleaver, and Phyllis (Budd) Fry.
- Overview
- Mental health struggles
- A phone call, then a horrible shock
- The need for change
Todd and Lisa Sturgeon knew their son was dealing with mental health issues. But before Connor Sturgeon, 25, opened fire at a bank in downtown Louisville, they never fathomed that he could carry out an act of such horrific violence.
“I’m afraid that whatever we come up with as the cause still isn’t going to make sense,” Todd Sturgeon told NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie in an exclusive “TODAY” show interview that aired Thursday.
Lisa Sturgeon said she and her husband did not see any signs of violence before their son, an employee at Old National Bank on East Main Street, walked into his workplace and started firing bullets from an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and injuring eight others.
The violence sent shock waves through Louisville, Kentucky, and across the U.S., where mass shootings in everyday places have become sickeningly commonplace. The bloodshed in Louisville took place just 14 days after a 28-year-old shot and killed six people at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We had no real indications that something like this could have happened,” Lisa Sturgeon said. “There was no clear tell.”
More than two weeks after the shooting, the Sturgeons are wracked with emotions. There's confusion, sorrow, heartbreak for the families of their son’s victims and grief over the loss of their child, whom police killed in an exchange of gunfire.
The Sturgeons said their son’s mental health challenges appeared to begin a year ago, taking the form of panic attacks and anxiety. He was seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor, and he was taking medication. Connor seemed to be improving.
But in the days leading up to the shooting, something seemed to change.
“He called me on the Tuesday before the event … and he said, ‘I had a panic attack yesterday and … I had to leave work,’” Lisa Sturgeon recalled. She said that she asked her son what might have caused the panic attack and that he was not sure.
She recalled that she told him: “We’re here to help you.”
Lisa Sturgeon wanted to see her son. She had lunch with him the next morning. She then set up an appointment with his psychiatrist for that Thursday, five days before the shooting. All three Sturgeons met with the psychiatrist over videoconference.
By the end of the session, it seemed Connor was “coming out of the crisis,” Lisa Sturgeon recalled.
The morning of the shooting, Lisa Sturgeon got a call from her son’s roommate, who said that Connor had told him that he was “going to go in and shoot up Old National.”
The roommate found some notes Connor left behind, Lisa Sturgeon recalled. She was shocked to learn that her son had a gun. She remembered thinking: “Where did he get a gun? We don’t have guns.”
The moments that followed the call were surreal, a blur of disbelief and panic. Asked to describe her frame of mind at the time, Lisa Sturgeon said: “There’s no way this is happening. Please stop him. Please make sure nobody gets hurt."
“This cannot be happening,” she remembered thinking.
Todd Sturgeon was driving his car when he learned that shots had been fired at the bank. “You go from praying for his life to praying that this is unimaginable, that he just commits suicide and doesn’t hurt anyone else,” he said.
Lisa Sturgeon raced to the scene and called 911. But by that time, Connor Sturgeon was already at the bank.
Connor Sturgeon bought his AR-15-style weapon legally. His parents believe he “absolutely” should not have been able to do that.
“What we’re hoping to do is stimulate some conversation around this,” Todd Sturgeon said. “I think the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want people in an impaired state to have a weapon in their hand.
“Now, it becomes more complex to thread the needle and protect us from those people while still being conscious of individual rights and liberties."
The Sturgeons do not necessarily have specific policy solutions in mind. But they know something needs to change in the U.S.
“How many mass shootings have there been this calendar year already? It has been happening to other people like us, and we’re continuing to let it happen,” Lisa Sturgeon said, “and we have to fix that.”
In their grief, the Sturgeons are also consumed by feelings of guilt.
People also ask
Is James Reed Sturgeon dead or still alive?
What happened 2 weeks after the sturgeons shooting?
Did Connor Sturgeon take others' lives?
Feb 24, 2019 · Jim was preceded in his death by his parents, his parents in law, Zerelda (McKahn) Fry, John O Fry, sisters and brother in law, John O. Fry, Jr, killed in WWII; Mary (Fry) Cleaver, Robert...
Aug 16, 2023 · HANOVERTON — When high winds knocked down an Ohio Edison transformer in Hanoverton in March, residents on Campbell Road were without power for six days. Nearly five months later, Jim Sturgeon claims residents are figuratively still in the dark. “We don’t know anything because Ohio Edison and the EPA won’t tell us anything,” said Sturgeon, […]
Jan 23, 2022 · Jim was born, February 15, 1943 in Columbus, Ohio, only child of the late James S. Sturgeon and Rosemary Reed, and was raised by his grandparents, the late Everett P. and Frances Reed.
- February 15, 1943
- January 21, 2022
Jul 12, 2023 · HANOVERTON, Ohio (WKBN) – A big cleanup project continues in Columbiana County. ... Jim Sturgeon, who lives nearby on Campbell Road, is still watching the cleanup take place, mostly across the ...
Oct 22, 2010 · Jim Sturgeon, a retired UB minister from Rockford, Ohio, passed away Friday morning, October 22, 2010. The funeral will be held at 2 pm Monday, afternoon, Oct. 25, at Praise Point UB church in...
