Breonna Taylor
Ms. Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency room technician, was killed shortly after midnight on March 13 when Louisville police officers, executing a “no-knock” search warrant which allowed them to enter without warning or without identifying themselves as law enforcement, used a battering ram to enter her apartment. Ms. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had been in bed, but got up when they heard a loud banging at the door. Mr. Walker, 27, has said that he feared for his life and only fired in self-defense, believing that someone was trying to break into the home. “He didn’t know these were police officers, and they found no drugs in the apartment. None,” said Rob Eggert, Mr. Walker’s lawyer. “He was scared for his life, and her life.” Police fired as well striking Ms. Taylor at least eight times. In a 911 call just after the shots were fired, Mr. Walker told a dispatcher that “somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend.”