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Two Louisville Officers Shot In Riots Erupting After Grand Jury’s Breonna Taylor Decision

By: Jordan Boyd
4 min read

Interim Louisville Chief of Police Robert Schroeder announced both officers are ‘stable’ and a suspect was arrested, but he is ‘very concerned about the safety of our officers.’

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@jordanboydtx
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Two Louisville Metro Police officers were shot on Wednesday night as riots erupted around Louisville in wake of a grand jury’s decision announced Wednesday afternoon in the Breonna  Taylor case.

Police killed Taylor by returning fire when a man she was standing next to shot at officers as they opened her apartment door while executing a drug raid. Taylor is black, which rioters claim means her death was racially motivated despite a lack of evidence for that claim.

The Interim Louisville Chief of Police Robert Schroeder announced both officers are “stable” and a suspect was arrested, but that he is “very concerned about the safety of our officers.”

According to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a grand jury indicted one of the three officers in the shooting, Brett Hankison, with three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment after he “fired through a window into [Taylor’s] apartment the night she was killed.”

Mayor of Louisville Greg Fischer issued two executive orders on Tuesday in anticipation of the announcement and the violence that might follow. One was a “state of emergency due to the potential for civil unrest, which allows him to exercise any of his emergency powers, including those to hire or contract for services, and implementing curfews and other restrictions” and another which “restricts access to five downtown parking garages and bans on-street parking in order to provide an extra layer of security for protests in and around Jefferson Square Park.”

He also issued a curfew for Jefferson County starting at 9 p.m. every night and going until to 6:30 a.m. for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. These curfews, however, were lost on rioters, who smashed windows, threw projectiles at officers, and set fires at Louisville’s Hall of Justice in downtown.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear urged people to abstain from violence and put their efforts into future reform.

“Go home tonight. There will be many times over the coming days where there will be an opportunity to be heard. And so many people are listening right now,” he said in a statement video posted to Twitter. “As your governor, I promise to listen. Let’s make sure we don’t see any more violence tonight.”

Two accredited reporters from the Daily Caller were arrested as police began corralling rioters and detaining them. Despite efforts from the Caller’s editor in chief to explain that they are members of the press, the LPD reportedly told him that they “will be processed and charged like everyone else.”

The crowd’s initial reaction to the afternoon announcement indicated that violence might surge because of the ruling and a group of people began to form a march. Videos show people gathering supplies such as water, shields, and signs calling for the abolishment of police from the back of a truck that was parked on the scene.

Reporters on the ground say that police arrived in riot gear and arrested several people. They also “fired pepper balls” after the crowd began throwing water bottles at them.

Others reported that windows were smashed and protestors were harassing business owners and other individuals about joining the march.

Wednesday afternoon, police eventually declared the gathering an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse.

“If you do not do so we may dismiss chemical agents and you will be arrested,” a voice announced over a loudspeaker.

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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