Posted on September 30, 2020

Louisville Breaks Annual Homicide Record After 4 Men Were Fatally Shot Overnight

Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal, September 19, 2020

2020 has surpassed Louisville’s previous record for yearly homicides, after four men were shot and killed in two separate incidents late Friday and early Saturday, according to police.

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The first shooting was reported just before 11:30 p.m. Friday in the 7800 block of Beulah Church Road, where Seventh Division officers found three victims, Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley said.

The three men had “sustained varying gunshot wounds,” and two of them were pronounced dead at the scene, Smiley said.

The third victim was rushed to University of Louisville Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Smiley added.

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Police did not provide additional details about what led to the shooting, which reportedly occurred outside Bungalow Joe’s Bar and Restaurant.

The owner of the restaurant, Joe Bishop, created a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral expenses and support the families of the victims. Bishop wrote on the GoFundMe page that a “lone, deranged gunman indiscriminately shot and killed 3 customers” at his restaurant.

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A Louisville man was arrested in connection with the shooting on Beulah Church Road, according to police.

Michael E. Rhynes Jr., 33, was charged with three counts of murder, according to online court records, which indicated he was being held in Louisville Metro Corrections on a $2 million bond ahead of a Monday arraignment hearing.

Later at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Second Division officers responded to a reported shooting in the 2600 block of West Broadway, where they found two men suffering from gunshot wounds, Smiley said.

One of the men was pronounced dead at the scene, and the second victim was taken to University of Louisville Hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, Smiley said.

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The four deaths overnight brought this year’s criminal homicide count to 121, according to a Courier Journal review of LMPD data. The Courier Journal reached out to the Louisville Metro Police Department to confirm that total, but an LMPD spokesperson didn’t respond

Louisville’s previous record for murders was reported in 2016, when LMPD investigated 117 homicides.

“This is a tragic milestone,” Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. {snip}