What to Know About the Mass Shooting in London, KY and What It Reveals About Kentucky’s Lack of Gun Safety Laws 

Shooter’s Previous Charge of Terroristic Threats Could Have Provided Basis For A Red Flag Order If Kentucky Had One

LONDON, Ky. – On Saturday evening, a shooter opened fire on Interstate 75, shooting into at least a dozen vehicles and injuring five people near the city of London, Kentucky, a rural community roughly 75 miles south of Lexington. Following the shooting, police named a suspect after authorities said they recovered his SUV on a service road near the crime scene and an AR-15 rifle nearby the vehicle in a wooded area. As of Monday morning, the shooter is still at-large, a manhunt is underway and he has been charged with five counts of attempted murder and five counts of first-degree assault. 

As a result of the manhunt, public schools in at least seven counties as well several private schools announced that, out of an abundance of caution, classes would be canceled for Monday. This mass shooting took place just a few days after a mass shooting at Apalachee High School killed four people and injured nine others in Winder, Georgia.

What We Know About the Shooting and the Shooter

While the suspect is still at large, many questions surrounding the shooting still remain. According to early police reports, an individual who was off of exit 49 on I-75 fired multiple rounds into the northbound and southbound lanes of traffic, striking at least a dozen vehicles and wounding five people in what seemed to be a “random act” of violence. The shooter was not in a vehicle at the time.

The shooter has a military background and served in the National Guard from March 2013 to January 2019. In investigations, family members said that he suffered from PTSD. He most recently lived in Woodbine, a small community about 20 miles south of London. According to Kentucky state records, the suspect was charged in February with misdemeanor “terroristic threatening.” However, the charge was dismissed when the victim failed to appear in court. He was also convicted of public intoxication in 2020 and of criminal mischief and “unlawful transaction with a minor” in 2015, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail. 

The arrest warrant affidavit for the shooter indicates that Laurel County police dispatch had received a call from a woman who said that the shooter had texted her saying he intended to “kill a lot of people,” 30 minutes prior to the shooting.

What We Know About the Shooter’s Ability to Get a Firearm 

The shooter purchased an AR-15 and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition legally on Saturday morning prior to the shooting. His family states that he struggled with PTSD and he had previously been charged with terroristic threatening. 

When a person is in crisis and considering harming themselves or others, they often exhibit clear warning signs, which can be noticed by family, household members and law enforcement. In states with Red Flag laws, these warning signs can be presented to a court to determine whether a person is an immediate danger to themselves or others by reason of having access to a firearm. Such an order could result in a person having to surrender their firearms and being prohibited from purchasing more. 

Kentucky does not have such a law, but in this year’s legislative session, Senators Westerfield and Yates introduced a bill to enact this type of process with Crisis Aversion Rights Retention (CARR) Orders, which did not pass the committee hearing stage. This measure could stop gun violence before it happens by providing law enforcement officers who recognize warning signs with a lifesaving tool they can use to prevent gun violence tragedies.

What We Know About Kentucky’s Weak Gun Laws

Kentucky has some of the weakest gun laws in the country, ranking 40th for the strength of their gun safety laws. After the legislature repealed its concealed carry permitting requirement in 2019, the state now lacks all foundational gun safety laws – including requirements for background checks, Extreme Risk laws, and secure storage laws. Kentucky also allows the purchase of assault weapons and enacted a measure in 2023 meant to nullify federal firearm laws by making it illegal for any public officer or employee of the state, including state and local law enforcement officers, to assist with the enforcement of these laws. 

What We Know About Mass Shootings in America

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the shooting in London was the 389th mass shooting of the year in the U.S. 

Everytown for Gun Safety tracks the firearms recovered by law enforcement in our nation’s deadliest mass shootings, an overwhelming majority of the time, the gun used was an assault weapon. In fact, eight of the ten deadliest mass shootings from 2015-2022 were committed with an assault weapon. Read more about the weapons recovered from America’s deadliest mass shootings here.