One of three officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor, the black woman killed by gunfire when drug investigators burst into her home in Louisville, Kentucky, was dismissed from the police department on Tuesday. Two other officers involved in the raid remain on administrative reassignment. No criminal charges have been filed against any of the three.
26-year-old Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was killed on March 13 after the officers entered her apartment bearing a “no-knock” arrest warrant. Louisville police chief Robert Schroeder wrote that detective Brett Hankison “displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he “wantonly and blindly fired” 10 rounds into Taylor’s home. Schroeder said the gunshots were fired through a patio door and window covered with material obscuring Hankison’s line of sight, preventing him from knowing whether anyone was inside the apartment, or whether they posed a threat.
Taylor’s shooting returned to prominence following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody. That incident triggered nationwide protests against police brutality and racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.
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