Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old EMT, sleeping peacefully in her home, when armed police officers burst in and ended up shooting her eight times.
The reason? The police had the wrong address.
According to The Washington Post:
"On March 13, the 26-year-old aspiring nurse was killed in her apartment, shot at least eight times by Louisville police officers who officials have said were executing a drug warrant, according to a lawsuit filed by the family, accusing officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence."
Police were reportedly carrying out a warrant for drug charges some time after midnight.
Police burst into the wrong home unannounced, surprising Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Taylor's boyfriend—who is a licensed gun owner and also hadn't committed any crime—thought they were the victims of a home invasion and fired a shot at the unidentified intruders.
The officers responded by firing 22 shots, some of which went into other nearby apartments. The lawsuit alleges the officers never identified themselves until after they finished shooting.
Eight of their bullets hit Taylor, killing her.
It turns out the man police were searching for when they burst into Taylor's apartment was already in police custody at the time of the shooting.
He also never lived in her apartment and did not even live in the apartment complex.
None of the officers involved with the incident were injured nor have any been charged with a crime.
Kenneth Walker—Taylor's boyfriend who shot at the unannounced armed men bursting in on him and his sleeping girlfriend—has been charged with "first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer."
Walker is now in police custody.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called for a full investigation of Taylor's death.
Taylor's family has hired civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
Crump has specialized in representing families of other murdered Black people associated with the Black Lives Matter movement, including Ahmaud Arbery.
Crump told The Washington Post:
"Taylor's death is the kind that could have drawn national headlines in the Black Lives Matter era, like the deaths of Sandra Bland and Atatiana Jefferson, but has gotten little attention amid news of the spread of the... virus. The pandemic headlines were partly to blame in drowning out news of Taylor's death, but so, too, is gender bias."
Twitter is outraged that yet another innocent Black life has been taken without any consequences for the police officers.
And as with their reaction to the death of Philando Castile, people are asking why the National Rifle Association is not fighting for Walker's rights as a licensed gun owner.
People noted a marked difference in the NRA's reaction when the gun owners are people of color.
A viral shooting video shouldn't be required to force police departments to do the right thing.
This situation is almost too extreme to be believed.
Yet it's just the latest in a long string of killings of Black Americans.
Taylor, a hard working EMT who had done nothing wrong, did not deserve to die.
Hopefully her family finds some justice.
The book When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir is available here.
