‘It’s definitely scary’: Louisville‘s third mass shooting in 2023 makes residents more cautious than ever

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - One man is dead and four other people are hurt after a shooting downtown Saturday night.

This is the third mass shooting in Louisville so far this year.

It happened on South Fourth Street around 11 p.m. on Saturday night.

One of the victims is still in critical condition.

The shooting numbers continue to rise this year as the city of Louisville has seen more than 60 homicides since the start of 2023.

These numbers have made people question if they should even leave their homes.

The scene on Fourth Street lit up downtown Louisville Saturday night.

Police say a fight that started inside a business escalated outside where shots were fired.

Shots that Chris Williams says he heard from his downtown apartment.

“I just so happened to open my window and just out of nowhere I heard what sounded like multiple gun shots sounds,” Williams said. “And I looked at my girlfriend to kind of just confirm it with her and probably a minute or two later I saw police cars coming out of the woodworks.”

The incident left one man dead and injured four others outside of Sicilian Pizza and Pasta.

The restaurant left a statement on their door saying:

“The owner’s and staff at Sicilian’s Pizza and Pasta would like to extend our deepest condolences to the victims of last night’s shooting that occurred in front of our downtown location on 4th street. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation by LMPD we cannot release any further details at this time. Please continue to pray for the victims of this random act of violence that occurred. We appreciate your continued support of our family-owned business.”

For Williams, this incident is even scarier because he considered going to the area Saturday night.

“And just to think that I was going to be down there last night and just on a random Saturday night we decided to stay in because honestly we don’t normally on Saturdays,” Williams said.

The continued violence is seemingly turning even the most outgoing folks into homebodies.

“When you have shootings like that you don’t know what’s going to happen every night so it’s almost like you feel more safe staying in at home,” Williams shared. “So that’s kind of where we’ve been at for the past month or so. Just been hanging out and trying to stay close to home.”

LMPD’s Homicide Unit is handling the ongoing investigation. There are no suspects or arrests.

Anyone with any information is asked to call LMPD’s anonymous tip line at (502) 574-LMPD (5673) or use the online crime tip portal.

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