LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Multiple families in Louisville are grieving following several deadly shootings over Mother’s Day weekend. 

Five people were killed in four separate shootings across the city. On Saturday, Louisville Metro Police Department officers shot and killed a man they say walked toward them with a large knife in hand. 

Longtime Russell resident Jackie Floyd calls any loss of life terrible, but to have several murders over this weekend, heartbreaking. 

Jackie Floyd is a longtime Louisville resident, living in the city's Russell neighborhood (Spectrum News 1/Mason Brighton)

“I mean how do you comfort a mother when her child’s life has been taken on Mother’s Day,” Floyd said.

Floyd, who’s a mother and grandmother, says it’s becoming harder to feel safe as shootings continue to happen. 

“As a resident, it’s scary that this much violence, the shooting, without regard for life, is going on. You know, it makes you fearful going to the store or going to a club or going shopping,” Floyd said.

Others in the city feel similar, like Dr. Eddie Woods, CEO of No More Red Dots, an organization working to end gun violence in the city.

“You feel like you’re playing catch up all the time. I mean, we at least have one shooting every day, almost,” Woods said. “In some cases we might have six, seven or eight in a 36 hour span.”

The shootings are also personal to Woods, as his organization worked with some of those who were killed over the weekend.

“Two or three of the individuals who were killed we were familiar with, they had been in our program when they were kids,” He explained.

Woods calls this a different pain. 

Despite that, he says the work continues. Both in helping families who’ve lost a loved one and preventing retaliatory shootings through his organization.

“We’re not just saying stop shooting,” Woods said. “We’re trying to show people how to stop shooting.”

Floyd adds more attention needs to be put on organizations like this, which takes a community-first approach to gun violence, “Because if one part of the city is not safe, the whole city is not safe.”

So far this year at least 62 people have been killed in Louisville, according to the city’s gun violence dashboard. In all of 2023, 147 people were killed in the city.