Louisville Officer Nathan Stotts to Be Fired After Fatally Shooting Unarmed Martin Nitzken Jr. Near Klondike Neighborhood

Louisville Metro Police Chief Paul Humphrey announced Tuesday that he is moving to fire the officer who fatally shot 27-year-old Martin Nitzken Jr. near the Klondike neighborhood on Saturday night.

Body camera footage and 911 calls released at a press conference confirmed that Nitzken was unarmed and naked when Officer Nathan Stotts shot him once in the neck.

Stotts, assigned to LMPD’s Sixth Division, was hired in February 2024 and had no prior disciplinary history before the shooting. His termination is not yet finalized.

Mobile, AL, Blount High School Graduate Rylie McGill, 18, Killed in Crash on Way to UAB Orientation

Under department rules, Stotts must first be notified of the chief’s intent to fire him, after which he has the option to request a pretermination hearing to present any mitigating factors. If the termination is upheld, he can appeal to the police merit board and ultimately the court system.

A Night That Turned Violent

According to police, the incident began just before 9:30 p.m. on Saturday in the 3000 block of Cromarty Way, where Nitzken had been watching a basketball game with his girlfriend and two of her friends.

Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Dylan McCauley Passes Away, Leaving His Loved Ones

At some point, he became agitated for reasons that remain unclear and physically attacked all three women. His girlfriend told a 911 dispatcher that he punched her in the face and that one of her friends had chunks of hair torn out. The women fled to a neighbor’s house to call for help.

Nitzken’s girlfriend told the dispatcher he was bipolar but had never shown signs of violence during their relationship. A neighbor who called 911 separately described Nitzken as “definitely having a mental break.”

Before officers arrived, Nitzken had stripped off his clothes, ripped a shutter from a nearby home, chased a moving car, and got into a physical altercation with a neighbor who tried to calm him down, leaving that neighbor with a dislocated shoulder.

Scooter Going 50 MPH Kills Rider Francis Delball, 39, and Cyclist Dmytro Stechenko, 35, on Queensboro Bridge

When Stotts arrived, Nitzken was sitting naked in the street. Body camera footage shows Stotts ordering him to show his hands and to stop walking toward him. Nitzken stood up and began slowly moving in the officer’s direction.

Stotts repeated commands to stop before firing a single shot. After shooting Nitzken, Stotts kept his weapon trained on him and did not immediately render aid. More than three minutes passed before backup officers arrived and provided assistance. Nitzken died at the scene.

Standards Not Met, Chief Says

Humphrey was direct in his assessment of Stotts’s conduct. “This is not an acceptable performance for us. This does not meet our training, it is not what we teach and it does not meet our values,” he said. The chief specifically pointed to the officer’s failure to attempt any less lethal options before resorting to deadly force.

Mayor Craig Greenberg praised Humphrey for acting quickly and said the commonwealth’s attorney is involved in the case. LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit is conducting an internal investigation alongside a separate criminal probe.

Nitzken’s death is the second fatal police shooting in Louisville this year involving someone reportedly in a mental health crisis.

The city is still working to finalize a co-responder program that would pair mental health professionals with officers on certain calls, though no timeline has been set.