A teenage girl attending Valley High School remains in critical condition after being shot on Beech Street near Algonquin Park in Louisville on Tuesday morning. Local police and school officials are pursuing suspect leads as the community grapples with another act of violence at a school bus stop.
Morning Shooting Near Algonquin Park Leaves Student Critical
The shooting took place around 8 a.m. at the intersection of Beech Street and Wyandotte Avenue in the Park DuValle neighborhood, just south of Algonquin Park. According to Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey, officers responding to the scene discovered a teenage girl who had sustained severe injuries.
Emergency responders rushed the victim to UofL Hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The Homicide Unit is leading the investigation due to the severity of the victim’s injuries. Police flagged bullet casings near the intersection, with evidence marker eight showing where the girl walked down the street after the gunshots up until about a light post where she realized she was shot and dropped, according to resident Gary Bieber.
Neighbors rattled by the shooting, unwilling to be recorded, told WHAS11 it was a drive-by shooting, with witnesses saying they saw a group of teens shoot her, laugh and drive off. Some heard as many as five gunshots. Gary Bieber, who lives near the scene, told WLKY the girl had injuries to her face. A candle now rests where she fell.
We are asking the community for your help in this. We want to make sure that we bring justice to to this family, as well as make sure that we get dangerous people off the street,
City and School Leadership Demand Action on Bus Stop Safety
The incident immediately mobilized local leadership. Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brian Yearwood joined Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg at the mayor’s weekly news conference to condemn the violence, noting that the victim is a student at Valley High School. JCPS said district police were on the scene with LMPD near the bus stop on Beech Street. Yearwood said it’s his top priority to make sure students get to school safely.
Mayor Greenberg said over the last year, the district and city have been working to ensure that all of the more than 10,000 bus stops across Jefferson County are well-lit, adding, We do not have the resources, LMPD [and] JCPS combined, anyone, to cover all 10,000 school bus stop, but we are working on you know identifying those ones that need extra safety concerns and provide support there.
This is a horrible act of violence, a tragedy that no parent, no friend, no community should ever have to deal with. But here we are in Louisville again, where there's another heartbreaking act of violence at a school bus stop, which should be a positive time in our children's life as they begin another productive, enriching day at school,
To address safety concerns, Greenberg announced that members of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and additional police officers will be at the Beech Street bus stop later Tuesday afternoon and in the days to come along with enhanced security. As kids were being dropped off in the afternoon, Mayor Craig Greenberg and nearly a dozen police officers filled the street. Yearwood called the shooting “unacceptable,saying during a news conference,
This must stop. The highest priority for is me is that our students come to school every day and travel in safe neighborhoods, sit at safe bus stops, and it’s going to take the entire community working together. This is unacceptable.”
Community Frustration and Calls for Information
Local residents expressed deep anxiety following the morning attack. Teona Crawford was walking her second and third grade kids to the bus stop on Beech Street when she stopped, seeing the flashing police lights.
My adrenaline’s still running. I got chills all over my body still. My kids are very shaken up. They hear gunshots. But to see a crime scene at their bus stop is totally different,
LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey stated, “Anytime you have juveniles involved, especially school-aged kids, it’s very frustrating. This affects that child and that family but it affects all these kids who are going to these bus stops in the morning and trying to go to school safely in the morning.” Metro Councilwoman Tammy Hawkins also appeared at the scene as kids were being dropped off in the afternoon.
LMPD said it is too early in the investigation to determine whether the attack was random or targeted. Humphrey stated that police are following leads that they have on suspect information and are asking the community to make sure that they call with any information they have.
