Louisville SWAT officer identified in deadly shooting of homicide suspect near Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Louisville Metro Police Department identified the SWAT officer Friday who fatally shot a homicide suspect just south of Churchill Downs.

The department said SWAT officer Beau Gadegaard fired the shot that killed 21-year-old Michael Hristov after a nearly 25-minute standoff.

The LMPD SWAT Team responded at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 14, to the 700 block of West Whitney Avenue to serve an active arrest warrant, Deputy Chief Emily McKinley said at the scene. That's off Southern Parkway in the city's Wyandotte neighborhood.

Hristov, who was identified by court documents, was wanted on charges of murder, assault and abuse of a corpse.

When officers arrived, McKinley said they tried to get Hristov to come out of the home, but he refused. Police said he then started shooting at officers from inside the residence.

At the time of the confrontation, police said Hristov called dispatch and said he was armed and "wanted the SWAT officers to shoot and kill him." Officers spent nearly 25 minutes trying to get Hristov to come out of the home, deploying chemical agents in an effort to force him outside.

Police said Hristov then exited onto the porch armed with a handgun, wearing a helmet and ballistic vest. Officers ordered the Hristov to drop the weapon, police said, but he continued firing. Gadegaard then fired his gun, hitting Hristov.

Hristov was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Hristov was just indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on murder and assault charges connected to separate incidents in December 2025, including the stabbing and dismemberment of a homeless person beneath the Interstate 65 overpass in the 2500 block of Crittenden Drive, and a stabbing near Eastern Parkway and Crittenden Drive.

LMPD's Public Integrity Unit is investigating the shooting. Per department policy, additional information and body camera footage from the shooting will be made public within 10 business days.

Personnel documents released Friday for Gadegaard show he has 25 commendation letters. He was also awarded with a Medal of Valor and Meritorious Unit Citation for his help rescuing a victim of domestic violence who was hit by a car and dragged into an apartment where she was held hostage in September 2024.

Gadegaard was also given the Distinguished Lifesaving award after he and other officers rescued another victim of domestic violence in August 2024. Personnel documents show Gadegaard was exonerated in several disciplinary cases, though he faced a 10-day suspension for conduct unbecoming and reporting of violations for his involvement in the so-called "slushy-gate," in which officers threw drinks at citizens in the west end and recorded it.

Gadegaard, on at least one occasion, was following two of the officers when they threw a drink at a citizen but did not report or attempt to stop the behavior, according to court records.

And he was suspended for three days without pay in 2017 for failing to follow department procedures when he didn't activate his body camera in the August 2016 fatal police shooting of 57-year-old Darnell Wicker, who was shot 14 times and died at the scene.

Gadegaard testified in a deposition in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Wicker's family he "thought (the body cam) was activated. I — it obviously, like, was not on. I activated it, when I realized it was not activated."

According to a post attributed to Conrad on the LMPD Facebook page dated Aug. 9, 2017, after reviewing the results of an investigation by LMPD's Professional Standards, he decided to suspend Gadegaard without pay because he didn't have his body camera on when Wicker was shot.

Former Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine later said Wicker's shooting was justified, and the officers wouldn't be charged.