LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, expects changes to how the Louisville Metro Police Department investigates its own officer-involved shootings.

What You Need To Know

  • The Louisville Metro Police Department has taken the lead investigating the city's most recent officer-involved shooting 

  • On Aug. 3, an LMPD officer shot and killed James Monti after 911 calls reported a man shooting a firearm near Frankfort Avenue

  • In 2020, former Mayor Greg Fischer, D-Louisville, announced all future police shootings would be investigated independently by Kentucky State Police

  • Mayor Craig Greenberg , D-Louisville, said this week he expects changes to an "inherited policy"

On Aug. 3, Louisville Police responded to 911 calls of a man firing a gun near Frankfort Avenue in the Clifton Neighborhood.

Thirty minutes later, 46-year-old James Monti was dead.

While on scene, LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel stated, “At 10:19 p.m. officers reported on the radio that shots were being fired at them at 10:31 p.m. officers reported the individual was down near the 2000 block of Frankfort Avenue.”

Gwinn-Villaroel went on to say LMPD would lead the investigation.

This is a departure from a precedent former Mayor Greg Fischer, D-Louisville, set into motion in July 2020 in the fallout of the police killing of Breonna Taylor. In 2020, Fischer announced, “In the event of an officer involved shooting where a person is killed or injured, we will contact the Kentucky State Police to do an independent investigation rather than LMPD investigating themselves.”

Since June, two men have been killed by responding LMPD officers. Kentucky State Police is the leading the investigation after a June 19 shooting death in the Portland Neighborhood.

Since that time, Greenberg has on several occasions referred to an “inherited policy” driving KSP’s involvement — once on July 13 and more recently on Aug. 4 and Aug. 7.

“We’ve been looking at this policy over the past couple of months, the policy that we inherited and so we will soon be coming out with updates to that policy,” Greenberg said Monday. The mayor says, ultimately, it is up to his administration’s discretion whether KSP is involved in any future investigation. 

The Kentucky State Police posted a statement regarding its investigation into the June 19 fatal police shooting, which reads in part, “KSP has statewide jurisdiction and investigates officer-involved shootings throughout the commonwealth as requested by local law enforcement agencies.” 

When asked for comment, an LMPD public relations officer told Spectrum News 1, “More information is forthcoming from our command staff. That is all I can share with you at this time.” 

Greenberg says body-camera video of the Frankfort Avenue shooting death will be released in the “very near future.”

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