While it is often difficult to ascertain a motive in active shooter events, either because there isn’t an apparent one, or because the apparent one can’t be verified due to the shooter’s suicide, sometimes it’s easy to identify the motive. And sometimes that motive is as simple, and sad, as racial hatred. That appeared to be the case on October 24, 2018 when the now-indicted shooter Gregory Bush went into the Kroger grocery store in Jeffersontown, Kentucky and killed two African-Americans.
Gregory A. Bush, a Caucasian male and 51 years old at the time, is reported to have entered the Kroger grocery store where he shot Maurice E. Stallard before then going back outside where he shot Vickie L. Jones. Both victims were in their sixties. A bystander in the parking lot observed Bush shoot Jones and exchanged gunfire with Bush without effect. At least one witness reported Bush as having made the statement, “I won’t shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites.”
Law Enforcement response time to the shooting was reported as four minutes after the first 9-1-1 call came in. By the time of their arrival, Bush had fled the scene. He was later captured and arrested.
While many wouldn’t include this shooting as an “active shooter” event because it had 1) limited victims, 2) an obvious motivation and 3) the shooter didn’t commit suicide or engage the police, we include it because it clearly demonstrates that attacks can occur in the most unlikely of places. In this case, the attack site was a grocery store and the parking lot just outside it. What isn’t explained (yet) is why Bush only shot one person inside the store. His actions in the parking lot may indicate that he wasn’t committed to mass casualties or even committing murder as a goal, but merely shooting those against whom he felt racial animosity. He clearly didn’t wish to engage Caucasians and he just as clearly wanted to escape; to get away with it.
Investigation after the fact revealed several things of interest that would assist in understanding Bush’s motivation and hatred. First, he had a history of violence. As far back as 2001 his now-ex-wife (an African American female) secured an emergency protective order against Bush alleging physical violence against her and claiming racial insults during the course of the violence. In 2009, roughly eight years later, he committed an act of domestic violence against his parents whom he was living with at the time. He is reported to have threatened them both and having attacked his father. As a result of court adjudication after that event, Bush was ordered to surrender all his firearms and undergo mental health treatment.
This brings us to the second item helping us understand his motivation in 2018: He was mentally unstable. By his own admission on his facebook page, and based on previous court records, Bush was challenged with being paranoid-schizophrenic and at one point was collecting disability payments based on his mental status.
The third and final item that contributed to his motivation was his demonstrated racism; his prejudicial feelings against all African-Americans. One can only speculate that the dissolution of his marriage to an African-American female contributed to the hatred he felt toward “blacks.” Through his social media feeds and even according to some of his friends, Bush wasn’t hesitant to make race based hateful statement, insults, etc. His reported statement on the scene in the Kroger parking lot that, “Whites don’t shoot whites,” would support this supposition.
At the state level, Bush wasn’t initially charged with any hate crimes. He was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and ten counts of wanton endangerment. On October 31, 2018, the grand jury indicted him on the two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder (the shooting with the bystander in the parking lot) and two counts of wanton endangerment. That same day, the U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction in that area stated that the FBI was collecting evidence with the potential of charging Bush with Federal Civil Rights violations involving hate crimes. Two weeks later, on November 15, the Federal Grand Jury for the Western District of Kentucky indicted Bush for six crimes: three were murder / attempted murder charges based on race of victim, and three were firearms violations. Due to his previous documented mental disorder(s), it was inevitable that Bush would be evaluated prior to any trial being scheduled. In July 2019 a report from the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center declared Bush competent to stand trial.
In an interesting twist of political response, the calls for gun control, increased laws on such, etc. was minimal. The politicians and groups that did respond focused on the racial hatred aspects of the crime. At least one activist group member – supporting racial equality and desiring greater action against hate crimes – voiced concern that Bush would “escape punishment” due to his mental disorders. His statement included further narrative that mental illness isn’t what drove Bush to shoot black people. His racial hatred did and that hatred is what Bush should be punished for.
As of this writing, no trial or outcome has been reported yet that the author can find. From the outlook of protecting against and minimizing casualties from active shooter events, it’s worth noting the bystander in the parking lot that engaged Bush, exchanging gunfire with him. That takes courage to do and demonstrates the kind of behavior that will, in the future, minimize the carnage a bad actor / criminal shooter can enact. Empowering all adult citizens to resist violence and/or fight back with equal levels of force will go the farthest to reducing the casualty counts the fastest.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
