Two officers have been shot as thousands of people protest in the US city of Louisville after a grand jury decided no-one would be charged with the death of Breonna Taylor.
Ms Taylor, 26, a hospital worker, was shot multiple times as three police officers stormed her home on 13th March, 2020.
One officer, Brett Hankison has been charged, not with Ms Taylor’s death, but with “wanton endangerment” for firing into a neighbour’s apartment in Louisville. The other two other officers face no charges.
Louisville Police Chief, Robert Schroeder has said the suspect responsible for shooting the officers during the protests is in custody. A state of emergency has been declared in Louisville and the National Guard have also been deployed.
Mayor Greg Fischer has, as a result of the unrest, set a curfew in the city for three days. He also said he had declared a state of emergency “due to the potential for civil unrest”.
Despite the curfew, crowds were still gathered and Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear urged the protesters to go home.
“We know that the answer to violence is never violence and we are thinking about those two officers and their families tonight. So I’m asking everybody: please, go home. Go home tonight,” he said.
Under Kentucky law, someone is guilty of wanton endangerment if they commit an act that shows “an extreme indifference to the value of human life”.
This lowest-level felony offence can come with a five-year sentence for each count. Brett Hankison was charged on three counts.
Ms Taylor’s relatives and activists for whom her death has become a rallying cry had been calling for the three officers, who are all white, to be charged with murder or manslaughter.
But this was rejected by a grand jury that reviewed the evidence.
Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, a Republican, who is the state’s first black attorney general, told a news conference, “If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice.
“Mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge.”
He also said the FBI was still investigating potential violations of federal law in the case adding that it was not clear if Mr Hankison’s shots had hit Ms Taylor, but they had hit a neighbouring apartment.
The top prosecutor then revealed the other two officers – Jonathan Mattingly and Mr Cosgrove – had been “justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges”.
Ben Crump, a high-profile lawyer for the Taylor family, said the outcome was “outrageous and offensive”.
Asked for his reaction to the decision, President Trump told a White House news conference, “I thought it was really brilliant.”
He praised Kentucky’s attorney general, who addressed the Republican Party convention in August, for “doing a fantastic job”.
“I think he’s a star,” he said, adding that he approved of the Kentucky governor’s decision to send in the National Guard.
