Louisville protest leader Kris Smith was fatally shot on Friday (December 11). According to a report by the Louisville Courier-Journal, the 42-year-old’s body was discovered in a car and identified by a pastor.
Smith’s murder follows the shooting death of Hazma “Travis” Nagdy, 21, who was also a revered activist in the Breonna Taylor demonstrations. At the time of Nagdy’s death in late November, Smith told the news outlet, “He’s gonna be missed over here, because he was really one of the good ones.”
Now, the business owner is being remembered in the same way by the community.
“Just like everybody else, he was finding his niche, finding his voice,” Stachelle Bussey, the pastor who accompanied Smith’s wife to identify his body at the University of Louisville Hospital, told the Courier Journal.
“We’re mourning one, then we lose another. ...With Travis, I lost a brother,” Bussey said, “Today we lost another one.”
Smith was well-known as a leader in protests, and his footage was used by national news outlets. After having some tough experiences as a youth, Smith began the Louisville Phoenix Initiative, a mentoring organization aimed at preventing violence through education.
The Louisville Police Department nor the coroner’s office has officially confirmed Smith as the victim of the shooting, but they did confirm that a shooting occurred around 11:30 a.m. on 26th Street in Louisville.
There’s an active investigation, with a search underway for a black truck that authorities say was involved in the shooting.
Louisville has seen an uptick in gun violence, with 150 homicides this year, surpassing 2016’s 117 homicides.
As of Monday (December 14), there have been no arrests made in connection with the shooting.
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