This is Breonna Taylor

She was brutally shot and killed by police in her own home. She did nothing wrong. Months after her murder at the hands of LMPD, her family has been denied the justice they deserve.

 

Breonna Taylor: Say her name

Keep reading for important updates and action steps to #StandWithBre and finally secure justice in this case—or click to learn more about Breonna and the facts of the case.


CASE UPDATE:

August 24th, 2022 — One of the former detectives, Kelly Goodlett, admitted that she helped falsify the search warrant application and later lied about it.

August 4th, 2022 — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the Department of Justice has filed charges against four former and current Louisville police officers in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor. The charges include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction offenses.


NO-KNOCK POLICE RAIDS ARE DEADLY. THEY MUST BE BANNED EVERYWHERE.

Breonna Taylor. Amir Locke. Marvin Guy. These are just a few of the innocent Black people who've been harmed or murdered by no-knock police raids. No-knock raids are dangerous for everyone involved, which is why we worked with local leaders in Louisville, KY and Killeen, TX to ban them. Every city and county in America must follow suit. Now.

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About Breonna

As a full-time EMT for two hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky, Breonna Taylor was a beloved and respected essential worker during the coronavirus pandemic. That police brutality killed her, and not the virus, is a painful reflection of the state of America.

A loving daughter, caring sister, and a kind and giving friend throughout her short life, she had a servant’s heart and dedicated her entire life to helping people. 

Breonna and her hard-working family moved to Louisville, Kentucky 12 years ago looking for a better life together. They found better jobs, a welcoming community, good schools, and were happy to call Louisville their home. 

Breonna was always caring and thoughtful of others. At an early age she decided to dedicate her time to helping people. She worked with children with disabilities right after she graduated high school and spent the last several years working as an Emergency Medical Technician as she prepared to become a full-time nurse.

As proud as her family was of the good she did, they were concerned by the risks she faced serving patients impacted by the coronavirus. As an employee of not just one but two medical centers, she was living out her dream of serving others. She was truly on the front lines of the pandemic response, risking her own life every day to protect the community that she had come to love, and that loved her. 

As concerned as her family was about her putting herself at risk as an EMT during a pandemic, they never ever expected that her life would be taken in her own home by the local police.


About the case / March 13, 2020

Around 1 a.m. on March 13, while Breonna was asleep in her own bed, a rogue, renegade task force of three white male Louisville Metro Police officers with questionable records known as the Crime Interdiction Division gathered silently outside and crept through her apartment complex in the dead of night. Not a single member of the community saw or heard them. They were dressed in plain clothes and never announced themselves or knocked on Breonna’s door.

When they arrived at Breonna’s apartment, they broke the door down, burst into her home, and in a matter of seconds, they opened fire, taking Breonna’s life. The police were so wildly irresponsible and reckless, that their bullets were found in three different apartments. In total, they fired their weapons dozens of times, hitting Breonna at least 8 times, likely more. The local funeral home told the family that her body was riddled with bullets. 

The officers would later claim that they had an arrest warrant, and were executing a drug raid, and they only opened fire in self-defense. 

Breonna’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who is an upstanding citizen and is beloved by Breonna’s family, was also home asleep at the time and did indeed fire on one of the police officers during the raid, but only because he thought he and Breonna were experiencing an armed robbery. The officers did not announce themselves before entering, and they were not in uniform. Kenneth actually called the police himself, assuming they were experiencing a dangerous break-in. 

No drugs were found at the scene. Breonna was not a suspect. Instead of holding the officers involved accountable, the police arrested Kenneth Walker, a licensed gun owner who was merely defending himself and his family. 

The LMPD officers responsible for Breonna’s murder are John Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove.

Attorney General Daniel Cameron just announced that the grand jury failed to indict any of the officers for Breonna Taylor’s death, and that they would indict only Officer Brett Hankison with shots fired into other apartments during this senseless killing.

Not only were these officers at the wrong home, in the wrong apartment complex, and in the wrong neighborhood, the man they were looking for had already been arrested by their department early that day.