LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky State Police investigation into the June 1 shooting death of Louisville Business owner David McAtee is “substantially complete” and is being turned over to the FBI and Jefferson Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
Cabinet Secretary J. Michael Brown announced the news at Gov. Andy Beshear's press conference Monday, about two months after the investigation began.
Brown said KSP conducted more than 170 interviews, reviewed videos, lab reports and other information, but “there is nothing to suggest from the evidence collected so far that there is any significant difference from the sequence of events and actions that was previously reported or captured on the videos.”
Shortly after the shooting of McAtee, investigators said video evidence showed a “measured response from the National Guard,” who fired the bullet that struck McAtee, killing him as he stood in the doorway of his building at 26th Street and Broadway.
On June 10, Brown, Beshear’s executive cabinet secretary, said the guard members and Louisville police were “responding to the fire that they had received” from McAtee, 53.
On Monday, Brown said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked that the state not release any information from the KSP investigation until the federal probe is complete.
“We will of course honor that requests,” he said, adding that the U.S. Attorney's Office is making the McAtee case a priority.
Ted Shouse, an attorney for McAtee’s family, said "we will begin to tell the whole story very soon when we file a lawsuit on behalf" of McAtee's family,
The Louisville officers on the scene that night, including two who fired their weapons, were not wearing body cameras or did not turn them on during the incident, violating department policy. That led Fischer to fire police chief Steve Conrad about a month ahead of his planned retirement.
McAtee's death has inflamed community tensions over police brutality. McAtee often fed police at his business, YaYa's BBQ.
The incident happened because police were trying to enforce Mayor Greg Fischer's dusk-to-dawn curfew, which Fischer ordered to stop violence that broke out during protests over the police killing of 26-year-old Louisville resident Breonna Taylor.
In the video taken inside McAtee's restaurant, McAtee is shown heading toward an exterior door as a half-dozen people quickly shuffle inside the building. McAtee appears to retrieve an object from his right hip and peer outside, raising his right arm, before ducking back inside. McAtee moves out of the frame before coming back into view, appearing to collapse to the ground.
In the other video, McAtee is seen tending to barbeque smokers just outside the building. He goes inside. People begin to hurry inside the restaurant as law enforcement officers approach.
Smoke then billows from the door and sparks fly just outside the building as officers retreat.
Related Stories:
- Police say video shows David McAtee firing shots before being hit in west Louisville shooting
- Mother of David McAtee doubts new security footage after police say he fired a gun before law enforcement killed him
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