A state official said on Tuesday the bullet that killed a black Louisville restaurant owner last week was fired by the Kentucky National Guard.
David McAtee, 53, was fatally shot during the early morning hours of Monday, June 1, amid protests that approached McAtee’s restaurant, Yaya’s BBQ Shack, near the intersection of 26th Street and Broadway.
Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive cabinet secretary, J. Michael Brown, said lab tests concluded McAtee was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest from a bullet fired by a National Guard officer.
The “fatal shot came from the National Guard,” Brown said. “We have no doubt about that.”
Officials have not yet been able to determine the exact weapon the bullet was fired from.
Two Louisville police officers, Katie Crews and Austin Allen, along with two guardsmen fired at least 18 times in McAtee’s direction.
Authorities had been dispatched to Dino’s Food Mart, not far from McAtee’s barbecue stand, after a large crowd gathered near the store.
Brown did not identify the two guardsmen who fired their weapons.
Louisville police released multiple surveillance videos, one from inside McAtee’s restaurant and the other from a nearby business, that appears to show McAtee firing a weapon from the door of his restaurant prior to him being fatally shot. Police said the videos, though, do not answer important questions, including who McAtee was shooting at, why he shot or how close officers and guardsman were to him when he fired the weapon.
Kentucky State Police and the FBI are leading the investigation into McAtee’s death.
(Photo: David McAtee)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
