Beyoncé is putting pen to paper to demand justice for the life of Breonna Taylor. The singer wrote an open letter to Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron, requesting that he bring charges against Taylor’s killers.
The 26-year-old emergency medical technician was fatally shot on March 13 by three Louisville Metro Police Department officers. The officers, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove entered her apartment, claiming they were executing a no-knock warrant, which have since been banned following Taylor’s killing.
“It has now been over three months since members of the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) killed Breonna Taylor. Plainclothes officers with a ‘no-knock’ warrant forced their way into her apartment where she was asleep and unarmed. Moments later, the officers fired over twenty shots into Breonna Taylor’s home, striking her at least eight times,” she wrote.
Bey then pointed out the irony in the state passing a law forbidding “no-knock warrants” in response to the tragedy, especially since no charges had been filed against the officers who took her life and they all remain employed.
“While ‘Breonna’s Law’ passed in Louisville and federal legislation has been introduced that will also ban no-knock warrants, these small steps in the right direction are painful reminders that there has still been no justice for Breonna or her family,” she wrote.
“Three months have passed — and the LMPD’s investigations have created more questions than answers,” she continued. “Their incident report states that Ms. Taylor suffered no injuries — yet we know she was shot at least eight times. The LMPD officers claim they announced themselves before forcing their way into Ms. Taylor’s apartment — but her boyfriend who was with her, as well as several neighbors, all say that this is untrue. Three months have passed — and zero arrests have been made, and no officers have been fired.”
Beyoncé then requested that the officers involved in Taylor’s killing “must be held accountable for their actions.” She also requested that the attorney general “bring criminal charges” against the three officers and “commit to transparency in the investigation and prosecution of these officers’ criminal conduct.” She added that she’s also demanding his office “investigate the LMPD’s response to Breonna Taylor’s murder, as well as the pervasive practices that result in the repeated death of unarmed Black citizens.”
“Don’t let this case fall into the pattern of no action after a terrible tragedy,” she pleaded. “With every death of a Black person at the hands of the police, there are two real tragedies: the death itself, and the inaction and delays that follow it. This is your chance to end that pattern. Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers.”
“The next months cannot look like the last three,” Beyoncé concluded.