LMPD officer in fatal shooting of David McAtee had mocked protester on Facebook

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Louisville police officer involved in the fatal shooting of West End business owner David McAtee had celebrated earlier on Facebook when a protester was shot by pepper balls.

Officer Katie Crews, who was placed on administrative reassignment Monday after the fatal shooting, posted a Courier Journal photo of a protester across from her and said, "I hope the pepper balls that she got lit up with a little later on hurt."

A screenshot of the post has circulated on social media sites.

Interim LMPD Chief Robert Schroeder said Monday night he is aware of the post and has started a professional standards investigation into it. 

The photo in Crews' post, taken Thursday, shows a protester offering flowers to Crews, who is staring back at her.

"She was saying and doing a lot more than ‘offering flowers’ to me. Just so for it to be known," Crews wrote in the post. "For anyone that knows me and knows that facial expression tells everything."

And after mentioning the pepper balls, Crews ended the post with: "Come back and get ya some more ole girl, I’ll be on the line again tonight.”

Shortly after midnight Monday, someone shot at LMPD officers from a parking lot at 26th and Broadway where a large number of people were gathered. Two officers, including Crews, and National Guard troops returned fire, killing McAtee, who ran a popular barbecue stand nearby.

Police have said they don't know if McAtee was the person who had fired at police. Authorities also haven't said whether LMPD or National Guard troops fired the rounds that killed McAtee.

Crews joined the Louisville Metro Police Department in 2018 and does not have any disciplinary records, according to the department.

After learning that Crews and LMPD Officer Allen Austin had no body camera footage from the shooting incident in which McAtee died, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer fired Chief Steve Conrad, who was slated to retire at the end of the month.

Reporter Olivia Krauth contributed to this report. Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.