LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police continue to search for the suspect in a fatal shooting Sunday in Louisville's Newburg neighborhood, a man with a violent criminal past.
According to the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, the victim was Angelica Marie James, 38, of Louisville.
Police said she was shot by 32-year-old Christopher Lee Gordon Sr. in the 4100 block of Quiet Way, not far from Poplar Level Road, around 4 p.m. Sunday. Gordon also shot a 10-year-old boy in the hand and shoulder, according to police. He is expected to survive.
After the shootings, police said Gordon fled the scene in a Ford F-150 with his 2-year-old, Caesen Gordon. An Amber Alert was briefly issued for the child Sunday night, but the child was eventually found safe. The vehicle Gordon was driving was also found abandoned on Taylor Boulevard.
Gordon remains at large. Police said he should be considered dangerous and should not be approached of seen. Instead, witnesses are asked to call 911.
Court proceedings in Gordon's past show a history of violence, a series of guilty pleas and leaving prison long before serving his sentences. His criminal history shows he's pleaded guilty to domestic violence, assault and reckless homicide.
"How can you just sit up and take an innocent life?" a source familiar with Gordon's past told WDRB News on Monday. "Like, I don't understand it. Like, I feel like the justice system failed."
What happened Sunday brings back the memories of another deadly crime from 2009. Gordon was convicted of reckless homicide after killing 17-year-old Norman Beals. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2011 but was released early.
Just two years later, he was charged with wanton endangerment in 2013 and was sentenced to three years. He was released early again, court records showing he was charged with domestic violence assault in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
Those cases all involved different women, but they were both mothers of his children.
"What is it gonna take? a source told WDRB News. "What is it gonna take for y'all to put this man behind bars? Like, I don't understand it. Now, her kids have to live without they mother, because the justice system failed.
"If they would have kept him locked up, innocent people wouldn't be going through this."
Gordon was on Misdemeanor Intensive Probation, a heightened level of probation, at the time of Sunday's shooting.
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