Police Officers Shot as Protests Erupt Across the US over Breonna Taylor Ruling

Rita Osakwe

Two policemen were shot and wounded in Louisville, Kentucky, during protests over a decision not to charge any officers over the killing of Breonna Taylor.

Taylor, a Black woman, was killed after the three officers forced their way into her home with a search warrant in a drug trafficking investigation.

A grand jury decided to indict only one of the three officers involved on first-degree wanton endangerment charges. The charge applies to the risk put on Taylor’s neighbors but does not aim to hold the officer responsible for her death.

The attorney general said the two other officers’ actions had been justified.

On Wednesday after the ruling, hundreds of demonstrators chanted Taylor’s name and marched in cities across the U.S, including New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Las Vegas.

The two officers shot in Louisville do not have life-threatening injuries and a suspect has been arrested. Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder said one officer has undergone surgery.

“At about 8.30 tonight, our officers were called to the area of Brooklyn College and a large crowd heard shots fired in the area,” Chief Schroeder told reporters. “As they were deploying to investigate what was going on in First and Broadway, shots rang out and two of our officers were shot. Both officers are currently undergoing treatment at University Hospital. One is alert and stable, the other is currently undergoing surgery and stable.”

Elsewhere, police in Portland declared a riot after protests erupted outside the justice center. In Seattle, thirteen people were arrested after protesters started fires and threw glass bottles and fireworks at police, according to authorities.

Along with George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor’s name became a rallying cry during nationwide protests that called attention to racism in the United States.

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