Brady Joins in Calls for Justice In the Name of Breonna Taylor

Washington, D.C., May 13, 2020 – Today, Brady joins the calls for justice in the name of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home by police in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13. The officers involved in the shooting have not been charged. Brady echoes her family and community’s demands for justice and calls for a full, transparent, and independent investigation into her death. No person in the United States should be awoken, shot, and killed by the police in their home.

Brady Constitutional Litigation Counsel Kelly Sampson shared:

“Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot to death by the police in her home. While we do not know all of the facts, there is one clear truth: Breonna Taylor should be alive today. We cannot let her become just another statistic, another name of another Black American shot and killed, who should not have been. There must be accountability for those who killed her. And there must, finally, be change in this country.

Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white Americans and while we are 13 percent of the U.S. population, we are 31 percent of all police-involved fatalities. These statistics act as a reminder of the disproportionate impact of police violence on Black Americans. But Breonna Taylor was not a statistic. She was an EMT, an essential worker saving members of her community. She was a daughter and a sister. She was a human being. And we must say her name.

Breonna’s family and loved ones have worked for almost two months to ensure that her story is not lost. Brady joins them in that effort and echoes their call for justice.

We should all demand clear answers as to why the police entered her apartment in the middle of the night to serve a search warrant in a narcotics investigation when the subject of the warrant did not live at Taylor’s address and was already detained. An investigation must explain why officers did not knock or announce themselves and, when faced with the residents of the apartment defending themselves, fired 20 rounds into the apartment.”

On March 13, Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her home in Louisville, Kentucky. Three police officers entered her apartment around 1:00 a.m. to serve a search warrant in a narcotics case. While facts in this case continue to emerge, the subject of the warrant did not live in Taylor’s building and had already been detained by law enforcement when the officers entered Taylor’s apartment. Similarly, no narcotics were found in the apartment.

When the officers entered the apartment, they did so without knocking and without identifying themselves as law enforcement. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep and awoke when the officers entered. Believing that their apartment was being broken into, Walker used his licensed firearm to fire at the intruders. The officers returned fire, shooting 20 rounds in the apartment and killing Taylor.

In the two months since the event, Kenneth Walker has been charged with first-degree assault and attempted murder of a police officer; the Louisville Police Department has initiated a public integrity investigation into the events; and the officers responsible for the shooting have not been charged.