The family of Breonna Tayloris getting another shot at justice. On Thursday, the FBI announced a new investigation into just what happened on March 13 when police attempted to execute a “no-knock” warrant, shooting and killing the frontline worker while she slept in her home with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker.
According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by in April by Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer, three plainclothes officers burst into Taylor’s apartment and started firing “blindly.” Taylor, a licensed EMT, was shot eight times. The officers involved have all been reassigned, but no charges or even firings have resulted, even as protestors in Louisville and around the world have taken up her cause along with those of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and other black men and women who ended up as tragic casualties of systemic racial injustice.
According to the lawsuit, Walker was startled by the sound of people attempting to ram his door and called 911 before firing a shot from his licensed firearm, striking an officer in the leg. He was initially charged with firing at an officer, but that charge has been dropped pending indictment.
“The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment further at this time,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown in a statement on Thursday. Louisville Police Department Chief Steve Conrad admitted that the officers were not wearing body cameras
“Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor did everything right the night police ambushed their home, killing Breonna,” said attorney Ben Crump on Friday. “While dismissing the charges is the right thing to do, it comes more than two months after Breonna was killed and Kenneth was arrested…Until everyone involved is held accountable and the full truth of what happened that night is revealed, justice for Kenneth and Breonna is incomplete.”
