Woman shot and killed while walking child to school bus stop, Kentucky cops say

A woman was fatally shot while walking a child to a school bus stop, Kentucky authorities say.

The woman was shot around 8 a.m. Aug. 13 near 11th and Chestnut streets in Louisville, according to the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The child who was with the woman, who has not been named, was unharmed, Louisville Metropolitan Police Chief Paul Humphrey said in a news briefing. It’s unclear if the student is the victim’s child.

A 15-year-old was taken into custody and was being interviewed, Humphrey said. The teen was detained at The Academy at Shawnee in Louisville, according to WLKY.

“These are lives that are forever changed because of incidents like this, whether they are the actual victim or they experienced this or witnessed this,” the police chief said. “This is a traumatic event for so many people that changes neighborhoods for the worse.”

She was shot in the vicinity of Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary School, Central High School and Louisville’s downtown YMCA, according to WDRB.

It’s the same area where shots were fired on the first day of school a week prior, police said. A separate 15-year-old is charged with 33 counts of fire-degree wanton endangerment from the previous shooting, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

“Kids should be able to go to school, go to the bus stop in the morning, without any fear of gun violence, of having to run for their life in the morning,” Humphrey said. “It’s absolutely unacceptable that these type of incidents have now happened twice in the last week.”

An investigation is ongoing to determine if the shootings are related.

Anyone with information was asked to contact Louisville police 502-574-LMPD.

This story was originally published August 13, 2025 at 1:29 PM with the headline "Woman shot and killed while walking child to school bus stop, Kentucky cops say."