'Sloppy' police officials shoot and kill unarmed black woman in her own home

On the heels of the horrific incident involving Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor is the latest victim of another senseless shooting. While at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, police officials from the Louisville Metro Police Department raided her home and shot at her eight times on March 13 earlier this year, the BBC reports. Taylor's family has since called the raid "sloppy police work." They are demanding answers for her death, which the police department has provided few to none of. The family's attorney is currently being represented by a legal team including attorney Ben Crump, who also represented Arbery's family.

Crump stated, "Her and Kenny believed that their house was being invaded, and they had the right to try to protect themselves against a home invasion." Officials from the Louisville Metro Police Department criminal interdiction unit approached their home at 1 a.m. on March 13 with a search warrant. As per the warrant, police requested a "no-knock entry," though officials confirmed they announced themselves before entering. Allegedly, the police had arrived to search the home as part of a drug investigation, however, no drugs were found in the property. On the contrary, another attorney working on the Taylor family case, Sam Aguiar, stated, "We had nice work from a private investigator and some canvassing of the neighborhood. We've got four people who are very reliable that say there was no knocking and there was no announcing."

Both Taylor and her boyfriend believed their home was being invaded when the incident took place. Therefore, Walker fired shots, injuring LMPD Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly. He was promptly treated and released from a hospital while Walker has since been charged with the attempted murder of a police officer. "Do African-Americans have a right to the Second Amendment?" Asked Crump in this regard. "Doesn't he have the right to stand his ground against people who he believes are burglarizing his home?" Needless to say, a white couple who would have fired rounds in defense under the same circumstances would not have faced the same consequences.

Further investigation of the search warrant has revealed more loopholes in the LMPD's shoddy work. Police officials had reportedly been looking for a Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug dealer who "had ties" to Taylor. As per arrest records, Glover had been arrested prior to the raid. Despite this, the police argued that Glover had utilized Taylor's address as his home address. Additionally, police claimed to have observed him picking up a package from her apartment in January this year after which he drove to a known drug house. In response, Aguiar stated, "If they really thought Taylor was a spot for him to pick up packages and that these packages contained things that they shouldn't, then why in the world would they wait until the middle of March to execute a no-knock drug raid?"

In light of the incident, the Taylor family has filed a lawsuit against Sergeant Mattingly and officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison. They claim that the officials "blindly" fired over 20 shots into Taylor's apartment. Several politicians, including Mayor Greg Fischer, State Representative Charles Booker, and Governor Andy Beshear, have demanded an in-depth investigation into the case. The investigation, currently being completed by LMPD's Public Integrity Unit, is expected to wrap up on Wednesday. While the investigation is ongoing, the LMPD has been accused of Taylor's "senseless killing." Taylor, an EMT who was working on the frontlines during the pandemic, served as a hero while she was alive. It is time for the department to take responsibility.