Breonna Taylor was an EMT worker from Louisville, Kentucky, inside the comforts of her own home when, according to a Washington Post x The 19th report, police officers entered her apartment and fatally shot the 26-year-old.
The incident took place on March 13, but news of Taylor’s death has been largely overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic. In a lawsuit filed on April 27, the family accused the Louisville police officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence. At the time of reporting, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said she’s still seeking answers on what exactly transpired. “Not one person has talked to me. Not one person has explained anything to me,” the grieving mother said in an interview with Errin Haines of The 19th. “I want justice for her. I want them to say her name. There’s no reason Breonna should be dead at all.”
What details are known, based on the lawsuit, is that Louisville police arrived at Taylor’s home with a warrant to apprehend a man who did not live at her residence. That same man had already been detained by officers before the police arrived at Taylor’s apartment after midnight. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was in the apartment with the aspiring nurse, began shooting at officers as they attempted to enter the home unannounced.
Officers are said to have fired more than 20 rounds of ammunition into the apartment. Taylor was struck at least eight times. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who says he believed he was shooting at an unknown intruder trying to break in, was not hurt, but now faces charges of first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer.
A spokeswoman for the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement to The 19th, “There is an ongoing public integrity investigation into this case and therefore it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time.” To date, no officers involved have been charged in connection to Taylor’s death.
Ben Crump, the attorney retained by Breonna Taylor’s family, says it’s important to get justice for the aspiring nurse. “They’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers,” Crump told The 19th in an interview. “Breonna’s name should be known by everybody in America who said those other names, because she was in her own home, doing absolutely nothing wrong.”