LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Officials say 17-year-old David Huff was one of two people killed in a mass shooting at Chickasaw Park Saturday.
“He was not only one of my students, he was also one of my mentees in a program that we have called Men of Quality for youth mentoring, and he was a bright and funny guy and really smart,” said Louisville Metro Councilman Kumar Rashad (D). “Just hard to see him go.”
Rashad, a teacher at Breckinridge Metropolitan High School, said the community is hurting.
“All of us, the whole school was just really just feeling the weight because it’s not the first time that our school has lost students,” he said. “We probably lose one, maybe two students, it seems like, every year ... and it never gets easier.”
A 25-year-old man killed five coworkers in a mass shooting at Old National Bank just over a week ago and was killed by a responding officer, according to Louisville Metro Police.
Since then, police records show nine more people have been killed and 17 others hurt due to gun violence.
Longtime Russell resident Jackie Floyd said children will be so traumatized by the violence that they won’t be able to concentrate in school.
“How can they plan their future when they don’t know they’re going to have a future because they’re seeing 15, 16, 17-year-olds getting killed,” asked Floyd.
She uses her phone to track where her family members are so she knows they’re safe, she said.
“As a senior citizen, am I safe in my community? Am I safe in Metro Louisville? Can I just be in Walmart or JC Penney and something breaks out? So that’s why I guess I’m frustrated with those that represent me in Frankfort.”
Floyd said she wants to see her lawmakers continue to file bills to tighten gun restrictions, even if they may be unlikely to move forward.
This year, Louisville Democrats co-sponsored bills to allow local governments to destroy confiscated guns and enact ordinances regulating guns, as well as a bill to make it a crime to unlawfully store a gun.
The legislation did not move forward.