A Louisville police officer involved in the fatal shooting of West End business owner David McAtee had celebrated earlier on Facebook when a protester was shot by pepper balls.
Officer Katie Crews, who was placed on administrative reassignment Monday in the fatal shooting, posted a Courier-Journal photo of a protester across from her and said ” hope the pepper balls will light up shortly after the injury.”
A screenshot of the post is circulating on social media sites. New LMPD Chief Robert Schroeder said on Monday night that he was aware of the position and had begun an investigation into the professional quality of it.
The photo in Crews’ post, taken Thursday, One protester is shown offering flowers to staff who are looking at him.
”She was telling me more than just offering me flowers, just to know about it, ”Crew wrote in the post,” for everyone who knows me and knows that facial expressions tell everything.’
And after mentioning the pepper balls, Crews ended the post with: ”Come back and get ya some more ole girl, I’ll be on the line again tonight.”
The Crew joined the Louisville Metro Police Department in 2018 and according to the Department, They have no disciplinary record.
After learning that Crews and LMPD Officer Allen Austin had no body camera footage from the shooting incident in which McAtee died, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer fired Chief Steve Conrad, who was slated to retire at the end of the month.
Police say someone shot officers shortly after midnight Monday in the parking lot on the 26th and Broadway where a large crowd had gathered. LMPD and National Guard troops returned fire, killingMcAtee, who ran a popular barbecue stand nearby.
Police have said they don’t know if McAtee was the person who had fired at police.
