Kentucky Man Sentenced for Racially Motivated Hate Crime

According to a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release dated June 24, 2021, Gregory A. Bush of Louisville, KY was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering two Black shoppers at a Kroger grocery store and the attempted murder of a third. Each of these crimes was found to be racially motivated. He pleaded guilty-but-mentally-ill to state charges for murder, attempted murder and wanton endangerment.

Bush admitted that in October of 2018, he drove to a Kroger in Jeffersontown, KY armed with a .40-caliber pistol. He then followed a Black man who was with his grandson and shot the man in the back of the head, then multiple times in the torso. He then walked out of the store, calmly, after re-holstering his gun.

In the Kroger parking lot, he pulled out his pistol once again and killed a Black woman by shooting her multiple times. He was approached by another Black man who was in lawful possession of a firearm and Bush began shooting at this man too, who had fired at Bush when Bush began walking toward him with gun drawn. Next, Bush encountered a white man who was in lawful possession of a firearm. To him, Bush said, “Don’t shoot me [and] I won’t shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites.” Bush had no prior relationship with any of the victims.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky explained, “Life in prison is appropriate in light of the brutal acts committed by the defendant against our fellow citizens. The initial law enforcement response and investigation, collaboration by federal and state prosecutors, and the sentence imposed serve notice to all that race-based violence will be met with swift and exacting justice.”