Louisville ends 2023 with 150 homicides as one family says 'hardest thing' is to wait for answers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville ended 2023 with 150 homicides. On the first day of the new year, there was a fatal shooting in the Portland neighborhood.

Each of those homicides is a person that leaves behind a family to grieve and ask for answers.

For one family, January marks one year since they lost the man they described as the "heartbeat" of their family. Loved ones of Mitchell Eddings still don't know exactly what happened or why.

"He was my last surviving uncle," said Patricia Mathison, Eddings' niece.

Eddings, a 69-year-old, was shot and killed on South 26th Street, as he was getting home from working at Caesars in the early hours of Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.

Mathison said the family is still dealing with loss and unknowns.

"We don't know anything, and that's what, for me, is the hardest thing," she said.

On the first day of 2024, Louisville Metro Police responded to at least three non-fatal shootings in the city, including one at a Waffle House on Dixie Highway. Police said a man there was shot and taken to the hospital, and another person was detained at the scene.

Before New Years Day came to a close, Louisville saw its first murder of 2024. LMPD said a man was found shot in a home on Lytle Street in the Portland neighborhood. There were no known suspects as of Monday night. The coroner's office has identified the victim as Stepphon Garner, 31, of Louisville.

"It's real tough. It's very disheartening," said Mathison, discussing violence within the new year. "Louisville has always been a place that I considered a wonderful place. I came back here to raise my kids, and to see what it has become is light-weight depressing."

Loved ones said Eddings was the family grill master, mechanic and so much more. They're not sure whoever took his life realizes the depths of this loss.

"We had to hire some handyman now because we don't have anybody, you know? Something goes out, you'd be like, 'call Mitch' -- no you can't call Mitchell," Mathison said.

Now she wonders if a new year will bring any new answers.

"I would like to keep hoping that yeah, we'll get some answers, but, who knows," she said.

LMPD said Eddings' case remains active and open. Anyone with information about his case or any others, is asked to call the anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD (5673). Tips can also be submitted online through the LMPD crime tip portal. Click here.

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