Man dies after officer-involved shooting in Portland neighborhood

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A man is dead after an officer-involved shooting in the Portland neighborhood Monday afternoon.

Louisville Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel said around 1:34 p.m., officers were in the area of 22nd Street and Griffiths Avenue in an attempt to arrest a wanted person later identified as Rex Wright Jr.

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While officers were trying to apprehend Wright, Gwinn-Villaroel said a man attempted to carjack the officers with a gun.

One of the officers shot the man with their service weapon and then performed life-saving measures.

The man was taken to the University of Louisville Hospital, where he later died. Gwinn-Villaroel said that the man killed was in his 20s.

The officer who fired his weapon is a 10-year veteran of LMPD.

“We are grateful that none of our officers involved in this incident were injured,” Gwinn-Villaroel said. “The wanted individual that the fugitive unit was initially looking for was successfully apprehended and turned himself in.”

Wright was wanted in connection to a non-fatal shooting.

“We appreciate, and I state this again, we appreciate the communities’ patience as KSP leads this investigation,” Gwinn-Villaroel said.

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WAVE News talked to the victim’s dad, who is upset and finds it hard to believe things went down the way police say.

He said his son would never try to carjack police officers and that if they were in plain clothes and in an unmarked car as LMPD said, he wouldn’t have known they were police officers.

A woman who said she was with the suspect before the shooting said she didn’t see what happened before shots were fired but saw him on the ground, and an officer pointing their gun at him until backup arrived.

Kentucky State Police will be leading the investigation.

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