Louisville police say an arrest has been made in the headline-grabbing Waterfront Park shooting last weekend that left six children injured by gunfire.
According to Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson Alicia Smiley, William Devon Thompson, Jr., the father of a 9-year-old girl who was grazed by a bullet during the incident, was arrested on Thursday afternoon and charged in connection to the shooting.
Thompson, 31, is charged with six counts of assault in the first degree and one count of disorderly conduct in the second degree. An arrest citation for Thompson said he was identified as one of two subjects who fired a handgun during the shooting. In the citation, police also said Thompson “wantonly created a risk to the public” by “shooting into a crowd in a highly populated area.”
He is set to be arraigned on Friday morning.
At around 9 p.m. on June 11, a shooting at the base of the pedestrian Big Four Walking Bridge saw six children struck by gunfire. The shooting — in a popular, high-traffic recreation location while it was still light out — resulted in headlines in national outlets. Earlier this week, LMPD chief Erika Shields told local news outlets that the gunfire started after a 9-year-old was pushed off of an electric scooter.
LMPD has enlisted the public’s help in the case, releasing blurry images showing a man in a white t-shirt with a firearm. It is unclear if that request for help resulted in the arrest.
The police department said the investigation is ongoing.
Please help LMPD Homicide ID the pictured male involved in the shooting of multiple juveniles Sat night near the Big Four Bridge. Call the anonymous tip line at 502-574-LMPD or use the online portal at https://t.co/nX14dPQARd pic.twitter.com/eg71FiKgVA
— LMPD (@LMPD) June 12, 2022
This story has been updated.
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