Troll who blamed fatal mass shooting on ‘pronoun extremists’ has pronouns in his bio
Five people have been killed in Louisville Old National Bank mass shooting. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
A mass shooting, in which five people died and several others were injured, has prompted one conservative commentator to say the deaths were due to “pronoun extremists” – and not the undeniable and obvious cause, gun violence.
On Monday (10 April), a gunman, named as 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, opened fire in the Old National Bank on Main Street, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Sturgeon used a legally bought rifle and live-streamed the incident, with officers being forced to shoot him dead him in the encounter, Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) said.
LMPD deputy chief Paul Humphrey said officers rushed to the scene at 8.30am and by 11am two of the six hospitalised victims were in a critical condition.
The victims have been named as 57-year-old Deana Eckert and Juliana Farmer, Josh Barrick, 40, Tommy Elliott, 63, and Jim Tutt, who was 64.
Eight others were injured, including two LMPD officers, and were taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, Courier Journal reported.
Nickolas Wilt, 26, who only graduated from LMPD’s police academy on 31 March, was shot in the head and has undergone brain surgery. He was reported to be in critical condition.
The second officer, who was grazed by a bullet, has been released from hospital, along with three others. Three remain in hospital with injuries that are believed to not be life-threatening.
According to Sturgeon’s LinkedIn, he interned for three summers at the bank before starting a full-time job in June 2021.
Following the shooting, in a post that has been viewed more than 14 million times on Twitter, co-owner of conservative commentary news site, Trending Politics, Collin Rugg, wrote: “Just in: Louisville mass shooter identified as Connor Sturgeon, who identified as a he/him.
“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: It’s not the guns. It’s the pronoun extremists.”
People commenting under the tweet were quick to highlight that Rugg also shares his he/him pronouns on LinkedIn, with some pointing out that his take of “guns don’t kill people, pronouns do” is “stupid”.
A Thomas LaRock wrote: “No, Collin, it is the f**king guns.”
Mass shootings on the rise in US
Statistics released by the Gun Violence Archive – a not-for-profit research database – show that 146 mass shooting have occurred in the US so far this year.
Included in the numbers is the attack at a school in Nashville during which six people, including three nine-year-old children, were killed on 27 March. The alleged shooter has been named as Audrey Hale, and said to be a trans former student at the school.
Hale was said to have legally purchased seven firearms, from five different local stores, three of which were used in the shooting.
The Gun Violence Archive data shows that the number of mass shootings has increased year-on-year, with almost two a day on average for the past three years.
According to the findings, a total of 8,901 people have been injured as a result of gun violence in the US so far in 2023.
PinkNews has contacted Louisville Metro Police for comment.
