A Louisville doctor involved in treating the injured victims of a mass shooting that killed five people at a bank on Monday pleaded for policy makers to take action on gun violence.
“To everyone who helps makes policy … I would simply ask you to do something. Because doing nothing, which is what we have been doing, is not working,” said University of Louisville Hospital Chief Medical Officer Jason Smith at a press conference.
Smith said caring for three or more shooting victims is “not an infrequent day” at the hospital, and that staff “barely had to adjust our operating room schedule to be able to do this” due to the frequency of gun violence in the community.
“For 15 years I’ve cared for victims of violence and gunshot wounds. And people say ‘I’m tired,’ but ill- it’s more than tired. I’m weary,” Smith said. “There’s only so many times you can walk into a room and tell someone they’re not coming home tomorrow.”
“And it just breaks your heart. When you hear someone screaming, ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy,’ it just becomes too hard day in and day out to be able to do that,” he added.
A 25-year-old employee of the Louisville bank wielding a legally-purchased AR-15 rifle killed five people and wounded at least eight others, and then died after exchanging fire with officers, police said. Two victims are still in the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, another is in stable condition in the ICU, and a fourth is in critical condition after being shot in the head.
Smith lauded the professionalism and preparedness of his team at the University of Louisville Hospital to handle such incidents and treat patients, but stressed the overwhelming intensity of repeated incidents of gun violence.
“You just can’t keep seeing these lives lost,” Smith said. “You can’t keep seeing all the people with these horrific injuries coming through the door without doing something to try to help.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg (D) has also lodged passionate calls for action.
“This isn’t about partisan politics. This is about life and death. This is about preventing strategies. You may think this will never happen to you. Never happen to any of your friends or loved ones. I used to think that,” he said.
He and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) both revealed they lost a friend in the shooting.
“The sad truth is that now, no one in our city, no one in our state, no one in our country has that luxury anymore,” Greenberg said.