Death of Breonna Taylor

Submission 5,868

Part of a series on Black Lives Matter. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The Death of Breonna Taylor occurred on March 13th, 2020, in Louisville, Kentucky. Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman and aspiring nurse, was shot to death by Louisville Police officers in her apartment. Police entered her residence shortly after midnight to execute "no-knock" search warrant. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who, unaware that three plainclothes police officers were entering his home, shot at the officers and was not injured. Taylor was shot eight times. Her family alleges more than 20 rounds were fired in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Background

On March 13th, 2020, three plainclothes police officers entered the home of Breonna Taylor, an EMT sleeping at the time of entry, were executing a "no-knock" search warrant for a man that did not live at the residence and was already in police custody. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at the officers when they entered his home without identifying themselves as police. Taylor was shot eight times and killed.^[1]

Taylor's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Louisville Police Metro Department for wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence.

The LPMD were executing a drug warrant for two individuals selling drugs more than 10 miles from Taylor's home and already apprehended the suspects. A judge had signed off on the "no-knock" search warrant, allowing them to enter without identifying themselves using a battering ram. Taylor's family states that Walker and Taylor believed the officers were burglars.^[2]

Developments

FBI Investigation

On May 21st, the FBI opened an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor. That day, they released a statement on Twitter ^[3] that received more than 979 likes and 600 retweets in less than one month (shown below).

Online Reaction

On March 29th, The Root,^[4] a news and commentary outlet focused on the African American community, posted about Taylor's death on Facebook. They wrote, "Breonna Taylor was shot to death by police officers in a 'botched' police raid. Her story deserves all of our #BlackLivesMatter outrage." The post received more than 2,600 reactions, 2,600 shares and 195 comments (shown below).

In May 2020, the incident became the subject of conversation on Reddit. On May 11th, Redditor^[5] digdig19 posted a tweet by Twitter user @TrevonDLogan about the incident (shown below, center). The post received more than 25,000 points (97% upvoted) and 895 comments in less than one month.

Days later, on May 14th, a Redditor^[6] who deleted their account wrote, "on March 13, 2020, these three fuckers conducted a no-knock raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment. 22 shots were fired with some bullets going into other apartments. 6 of those bullets struck Ms. Taylor and ended her short life. THEY WERE AT THE WRONG APARTMENT" in the /r/Bad_Cop_No_Donut subreddit. The post received more than 26,000 points (95% upvoted) and 790 comments in less than one month.

On May 29th, Redditor^[7] dantheman_woot shared the news that authorities released the 911 call from Breonna Taylor's boyfriend (audio below, right). The post received more than 69,000 points (94% upvoted) and 3,000 in less than one week (shown below right).

On June 2nd, Harry Potter actor Emma Watson included Taylor's name in a post on Instagram ^[7] about the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of numerous African Americans in police-related incidents. The post received more than 1.4 million likes in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets have covered the death of Breonna Taylor, including The Washington Post,^[1] Courier-Journal,^[2] The New York Times,^[8] Mother Jones,^[9] CNN^[10] and more.