LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) 鈥 They went to their churches on the evening after Easter 鈥 to cry, to light candles, to ask God why, on this holiday of rebirth, they must mourn so much death.
Many in Louisville turned to their faith for impromptu services Monday night, hours after of his co-workers at Old 春色直播 Bank downtown and injured eight others.
Hundreds gathered at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, where one of the victims, Joshua Barrick, was an active member. His family sat in the front pews, and fellow congregants hugged them and wept.
鈥淗e was so well known, he made himself known,鈥 the Rev. Shayne Duvall said. 鈥淭his community is mourning. We鈥檙e trying to wrap our heads around it.鈥
Barrick, 40, was a senior vice president at Old 春色直播 Bank, and Duvall remembered him as a big guy with a bubbly personality. He had a wife and two young children, one girl and one boy, who attended the parish鈥檚 grade school. Barrick coached basketball for first and second graders 鈥 a charismatic, charming man who patiently wrangled the little kids.
Duvall said he spent most of the day with Barrick鈥檚 family and friends.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e in shock. Everyone is just kind of walking around in a fog. Like, 鈥楧id this really just happen?鈥" he said. 鈥淭his has been a beautiful morning. Who thought, 鈥業鈥檓 going to work today and something like this could happen?鈥欌
Police say the 25-year-old gunman opened fire around 8:30 a.m. Monday while livestreaming the attack on Instagram. Barrick and four of his co-workers were killed: Tommy Elliott, 63, also a bank senior vice president; Jim Tutt Jr., 64, a commercial real estate market executive; Juliana Farmer, 45, a loan analyst; and Deana Eckert, 57, an executive administrative officer.
Elliott was prominent in Democratic politics, and a close friend of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Beshear struggled Monday afternoon to understand how such horror could happen the day after Easter.
鈥淲e lost four children of God today 鈥 one of whom is one of my closest friends,鈥 Beshear said, his voice quivering. 鈥淲e need love for each other. It seems like we argue so much in this country, so much anger. And I still believe that love and compassion and humanity can lead us to a better place. This is hard, it鈥檚 really hard, the day after Easter. Easter is about a rebirth, a better world, one where we鈥檙e all supposed to work together to get there."
Elliott鈥檚 network of friends included Louisville native Lonnie Ali, widow of the late boxing great Muhammad Ali, both of whom grew up in Louisville. She pointed to Elliott's sense of humor and commitment to his community.
鈥淭ommy was such a warm, wonderful, funny, kind guy,鈥 she said. 鈥淛ust the sweetest person. And it鈥檚 just such a huge loss, not just to his friends and family, but to the community. Because that鈥檚 what Tommy was about. Tommy was about community.鈥
Elliott always rooted for the underdog and tried to use his connections to give people a boost, said former Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who knew Elliott for 40 years.
Fischer said Elliott quietly took care of his aging relatives, never complaining, and was a devoted husband and father to four girls.
鈥淵ou think about them going to the house tonight and he鈥檚 not there,鈥 Fischer said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 not right.鈥
Kevin Luoma, who left the bank last May to take care of his elderly father, worked with several of the victims. Luoma said when his father was having a hard time at the nursing home, Elliott, who would regularly visit his mother-in-law at her own nursing home, was there to answer any questions and said he'd do anything to help.
Luoma said Deana Eckert helped organize the annual bank celebration for Thunder Over Louisville, the fireworks kickoff event before the Kentucky Derby. Eckert would put together a large food spread in the conference room where the shooting occurred.
鈥淭hese people just went to work,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 numbing right now."
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said at a news conference Tuesday that he also knew Eckert, a mother of two, who died at the hospital late Monday evening.
鈥淒eana was a very kind and very thoughtful person. She was a wonderful woman who will be missed,鈥 he said. 鈥淗er death means another family in mourning and adds yet another layer of tragedy to this moment.鈥
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, a Louisville native, spoke of the city鈥檚 reputation as 鈥渢he biggest small town in America.鈥 He said he calls it 鈥淟ouisvillage鈥 because everyone is connected to just about everyone else, compounding the grief echoing across the city.
The loss swept across the state, too.
In Henderson, Kentucky, 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Louisville, friends and family of Juliana Farmer were still in disbelief Tuesday, remembering her as a caring person who was always there to offer support when they needed her.
Farmer recently moved from Henderson to Louisville for her job as a loan analyst at the bank.
鈥淗er soul was so beautiful,鈥 family friend Lori Brooks McGuire told The Associated Press. 鈥淪he would talk to anybody. You just enjoyed her.鈥
McGuire said Farmer had just come back from a beach vacation and was excited to learn about her fifth grandchild. On Facebook Sunday, Farmer had written that her heart was happy about the new addition to her family.
鈥淚鈥檓 mad because he took a good person away from this world,鈥 McGuire said of the shooter. 鈥淪he did not have to go so soon.鈥
Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) east of Louisville, LaGrange Mayor John Black said he knew Jim Tutt Jr., who had volunteered for years on an economic development board in Oldham County, adjacent to Louisville. Tutt helped the mayor and other public officials with complicated financial transactions and led the board as president.
鈥淗e always wanted to volunteer to be a part of our city and help out,鈥 said Black, who appointed Tutt to the board. But Tutt wasn鈥檛 an ordinary volunteer; he had great negotiating skills and deep knowledge of land development deals that made him critical to the board's success, Black said.
鈥淛im was my go-to person that I had all the faith and trust in,鈥 he said. Tutt was president of the board for about six years before stepping down last year, according to Black.
Rep. McGarvey also had connections to the victims. The maid of honor at his wedding 鈥 whose children are his godchildren 鈥 called him from Joshua Barrick's home Monday. She is close with the family, and said his wife hadn鈥檛 heard from him. She asked McGarvey to find out if he was alive. McGarvey called the police, then had to call her back to say he wasn鈥檛 on the list of survivors.
鈥淪he had to tell their two small children that their father would never come home from work,鈥 McGarvey said.
At Barrick鈥檚 church Monday evening, the priest told a story of the last time he spoke to him.
Barrick had asked for a meeting to talk about the church鈥檚 new initiatives. Duvall said the last thing Barrick said to him was: 鈥淔ather, I鈥檒l do whatever you ask. You can count on me.鈥
The church placed a photo of Barrick with a wide smile on its altar, and a second of him with his wife and two children, a young family holding each other in a field. There were five candles, for each of the four victims and, the priest noted, one for the shooter too.
Duvall prayed for all of those killed, for their souls and their families, for mercy and for peace.
鈥淭here was a shooter. There鈥檚 going to be a lot of people in this community that are angry and mad at him, and they have every right to be,鈥 Duvall said. 鈥淏ut I still have to pray for his soul too.鈥
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This story has been edited to correct that McGarvey did not know Eckert.
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Associated Press reporter Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report. Schreiner reported from Frankfort, Kentucky. Dupuy reported from New York.
