Louisville police and soldiers return fire, killing man

Police officers and National Guard soldiers enforcing a curfew in Louisville killed a man early Monday when they returned fire after someone in a large group fired at them first, the city’s police chief said.

Chief Steve Conrad confirmed the shooting happened around 12:15 a.m. outside a food market on West Broadway, where police and the National Guard had been called to break up a large group of people gathering in defiance of the city’s curfew.

Someone fired a shot at them and both soldiers and officers returned fire, the chief said. It was unclear if the person killed is the one who fired at the law enforcers, several “persons of interest” were being interviewed, he said.

News outlets showed video taken by someone in a car parked at a gas station. It recorded the sound of bullets being fired as groups of police and national guard soldiers crouched behind cars.

“I think it’s very, very clear that many people do not trust the police. That is an issue that we’re going to have to work on and work through for a long time,” Conrad said.

Gov. Andy Beshear said he authorized state police to independently investigate the shooting. Beshear also said Louisville police and guardsmen were fired on while dispersing a crowd.

“LMPD (Louisville Metro Police) and the Kentucky National Guard returned fire, resulting in a death,” the governor said in a statement.