Two teens are in police custody after officers say they fired a handgun into the air Friday morning in downtown Louisville, near The Healing Place. The call that brought police was a report of an active aggressor. When officers arrived, police said, there was no active threat.
Louisville Metro Police First Division officers and other law enforcement agencies responded around 10:40 a.m., WDRB reported. Police said the teens had shot the handgun into the air in the area. Officers found them near Chapel Street and took both into custody without incident.
A stolen handgun, and no charges named yet
An LMPD spokesperson said the gun in the teens' possession had been reported stolen, WLKY reported. That is a police account of a reported theft, not a public history of who owned the firearm or how it left that owner's hands.
LMPD said the incident could have had a much different outcome, and that reports involving gunfire are treated with the utmost seriousness. Officials said responding officers, dispatch personnel, and the Real Time Crime Center let authorities rapidly assess the situation, identify those involved, and bring it to a safe resolution.
"We are grateful for the swift response of our officers and law enforcement partners," the department said in comments carried by WLKY. Charges are pending against both teens. The investigation remains ongoing.
A city citing fewer shootings
The custody case arrived while LMPD has been pointing to a broader decline. Spectrum News 1 reported this week that the city's Gun Violence Dashboard showed non-fatal shootings down 34% from the previous year and homicides down 37%. LMPD said homicides and instances of gun violence in Louisville have decreased since 2021, and that the downward trend was expected to continue this year.
Those dashboard figures are not a count of youth gun cases. A Courier Journal report published Nov. 24, 2025 described Louisville youth gun offenses as higher than in recent years. Friday's arrest-stage facts do not revise either number. They do put a reported stolen handgun, fired into the air downtown, next to a decline police have been glad to cite.
What the discharge laws say
Louisville Metro's firearms ordinance generally prohibits discharging a firearm within 300 feet of a public roadway or public alley, or in the direction of an occupiable structure within 300 feet. Section 135.03 excepts conduct otherwise permitted by Kentucky law and shooting at a properly zoned and licensed firing range. The code text does not establish that the ordinance applies to these teens or to Friday's incident.
State law draws a separate line. First-degree wanton endangerment is a Class D felony, and a Class C felony if the person discharges a firearm in committing the offense, under KRS 508.060. Nothing in the reporting shows that either teen has been charged under that statute. Pending is not a filing. What comes next is a charging decision that, as of Friday, police had not made.
