https://www.wlky.com/article/offici...-double-shooting-at-jefferson-square/32991497
Gerth was covering the Louisville protests at the time of his death.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Night after night, Tyler Gerth snapped photos of the Louisville protests.
The mostly black-and-white frames shared to Instagram showed the heartbreak, occasional triumph and tirelessness that have defined the month-long demonstrations: the marching, the singing, the hugging. The chanting and the silence.
Gerth, 27, was fatally shot Saturday night at a protest in Jefferson Square Park, the unintended victim of a man who got in a dispute at the protest site and came back with a gun, protesters at the scene said.
Steven Lopez, 23, is facing charges of murder and first-degree wanton endangerment, Louisville Metro Police officials said Sunday after releasing his arrest citation.
Gerth had become a vocal supporter of ongoing protests against racism and police brutality and, his family said, a strong supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
His godfather is Joe Gerth, a Courier Journal columnist. And Tyler Gerth also was a godfather to the Louisville columnist's daughter.
The family said in a statement that they are "devastated that his life was taken was from us far too soon."
Gerth was covering the Louisville protests at the time of his death.