The Kentucky gun shop that sold an assault weapon to a man who used it to kill five co-workers and wrote in his journal the gun was “so easy” to buy is facing a lawsuit filed Monday from survivors and families of the victims. The civil suit filed in Louisville alleges River City Firearms should have been more suspicious of the sale and noticed red flags when Connor Sturgeon bought the gun six days before the April 10 shooting. Sturgeon walked into Old National Bank and opened fire on co-workers who were having a morning meeting, killing five and injuring several others, including a responding police officer. The families of two of the deceased victims — Joshua Barrick and James Tutt — are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, along with three shooting survivors, the Associated Press reports.
River City Firearms is a federally licensed dealer and has a “legal duty” to withhold a sale from a buyer who it can reasonably tell might be a danger to others, according to the lawsuit, which also notes that the owners of the store should know that AR-15-style weapons like the one Sturgeon bought “have become the go-to weapon for young men intent on causing mass destruction." Because of the shop's licensing, the lawsuit alleges, its clerks should also be “trained to spot individuals who ... may have nefarious intentions.” Patrons inside the store said Sturgeon had little knowledge of firearms and appeared embarrassed during the purchase. Sturgeon bought a Radical Firearms RF-15, 120 rounds, and four magazine cartridges for $762. He wrote in his journal the process took about 45 minutes. “Seriously, I knew it would be doable but this is ridiculous,” he wrote.