Louisville officer shot in head responding to mass shooting days after graduating police academy

The Louisville police officer shot in the head Monday while responding to the mass shooting in a downtown bank had graduated from the police academy just 10 days earlier.

Louisville Metro Police Ofc. Nickolas Wilt require emergency brain surgery after being shot and is now in critical but stable condition, says interim department Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel. 

The 26-year-old Wilt graduated from the Louisville Metro Police Academy on March 31.

He "ran towards the gunfire ... to save lives," the department tweeted after a bank employee opened fire at work Monday, killing five people.

"We throw around the term hero, but he's the guy who's going to do the right thing," said John Luker, who worked alongside Wilt at Oldham County EMS before Wilt became a police officer, according to USA Today.

"It's unfortunate that it happened," Luker also said. "But as tore up as everybody is, we also know those actions saved a lot of other lives. ... We're just so proud of him."

Another officer was also injured in the mass shooting, along with eight members of the public. That officer was released within several hours of being admitted to the University of Louisville Hospital for treatment.