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Jul 07, 2023

Business surveillance video shows violent incidents near Louisville skate park

Anchor/Reporter One video shows four people appearing to be ducking behind a black car for cover. Then cars start backing up as another person in the bottom right of the screen fires off a few shots.

Anchor/Reporter

One video shows four people appearing to be ducking behind a black car for cover. Then cars start backing up as another person in the bottom right of the screen fires off a few shots.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Despite hours being reduced to a popular park near downtown Louisville, violence is continuing in the area.

Vendome Copper & Brass Works is just two blocks away from the David Armstrong Extreme Park in the Butchertown neighborhood. Owners said they've seen nothing but problems overnight and it's only getting worse.

"Kids out at 3 a.m. carrying around an assault rifle, openly carrying it around, there's something that's not right," Rob Sherman, Vendome Copper & Brass Works owner, said. "It seems like every couple of nights or every few nights there's an incident."

One video shows four people appearing to be ducking behind a black car for cover. Then cars start backing up as another person in the bottom right of the screen fires off a few shots. The group of four then shoot at least a dozen times.

Surveillance video shows people shooting at each other near Vendome Copper & Brass Works.

"You can see people just carrying guns and assault rifles, everyone has them," Mike Sherman, Vendome Copper & Brass Works owner, said. "It's just amazing to me the amount of guns that these young people have on them."

David Armstrong Extreme Park at 531 Franklin Street in the Butchertown neighborhood was the only city-owned park open 24 hours a day. But the skate park's hours changed to 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, announced by the city last week.

By early Wednesday morning, surveillance video showed more violence. Just before 3 a.m., surveillance cameras from Vendome Copper & Brass Works captured on video a crowd of at least two dozen people gathering around what appears to be a fight and when the crowd breaks up, viewers can see at least one person with a gun.

Around that same time, a different angle shows a car speeding down the street and someone throwing a firework out that goes off feet away from someone.

All of this occurred while Vendome Copper & Brass Works employees were working on a night shift.

"It's one thing when no one is around here and we know it's going on," Mike said. "It's like that's crazy, but when you have employees working and it's going on right outside, now it's of much more of a concern. We need to step up, what's the city going to do to protect our workers when it's time for them to leave. Is it going to be safe for them to walk out, get in their trucks and go home?"

On June 17 around 12:30 a.m., around a dozen shots were fired by five people shooting down the street. Another camera shows the group running back and climbing the fence onto the company's property.

Surveillance video shows people shooting at each other near Vendome Copper & Brass Works.

Video shows the group appearing to congregate seemingly to figure out what to do, then another camera angle shows them hopping another fence, but not before they pass off their rifles to one of their friends. This time, one of the company's employee's trucks was damaged when a bullet went through the engine block causing thousands of dollars in damage.

"It was going on while they were in there," Mike said. "They just kind of went in the back of the building and kind of stayed back there in the back, made sure the doors were locked."

Owners of Vendome Copper & Brass Works have considered moving, but they said they're an anchor in the area and would rather stay to help city fix the problems.

"It would be hard to pick up and move, but then again safety's a very key priority and keeping our employees safe and our building safe and everything like that," Mike said. "We just want some answers."

The owners are hopeful closing the park during overnight hours will eventually help, but in a week, they haven't seen a change.

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