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7 shot in Louisville during Breonna Taylor protest: 'It is not a riot. It is a revolt.'
May 29, 2020
The Louisville protests started hours after 911 audio from Breonna Taylor's boyfriend was released
At least seven people were shot Thursday night in Louisville, Kentucky, during protests demanding justice for a young black woman who was fatally shot by police during a raid gone wrong in March.
Hundreds of people gathered at Louisville's City Hall for a demonstration calling for police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor to be arrested. During the protests of about 600 people, seven civilians were shot.
The Louisville Police Department said one person was in critical condition, according to WLKY-TV. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said that five were in good condition, two were sent to surgery.
"My prayers are with all of them," Fischer said.
"What we are seeing tonight in this community is the obvious frustration of the tension between police and residents," police special adviser Jessie Halladay said.
"What started out as a peaceful protest earlier this evening is now escalating into property damage, more aggressive action, and we've just heard reports of shots fired in the crowd," Halladay said. She added that bottles had been thrown at police officers.
"No officers discharged their service weapons," police spokesman Sgt. Lamont Washington told the Associated Press.
"There have been some arrests," the department said.
Louisville Councilwoman Keisha Dorsey, representing District 3 in Kentucky, said: "It is not a riot. It is a revolt against a system in which people have felt oppressed."
"What I'm seeing is people who are trying their best to do something with their hurt, their pain, and their frustration," Dorsey added.
Seven shot in Louisville protests over killing of black woman, policewww.youtube.com
Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old emergency medical technician. Around midnight on March 13, while Taylor was sleeping, cops entered her apartment with a "no-knock" search warrant in a drug investigation.
Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought the plainclothes police were robbers, so he reportedly fired his gun at the officers. The officers returned fire, and shot Taylor eight times, killing her. Louisville Metropolitan Police Officer Jon Mattingly was shot once in the leg, and has since recovered after surgery.
No drugs were found in the home.
The demonstrations in Louisville happened only hours after the audio of the 911 call by Taylor's boyfriend was released.
"I don't know what happened ... somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend," Kenneth Walker told the 911 dispatcher. "There's blood, oh my God."
The FBI announced on May 21 that it is investigating Taylor's murder.
The Louisville protests come on the heels of the riots in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd, who died while in the custody of police after an officer kneeled on his neck for seven minutes.
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Paul Sacca is a staff writer for Blaze News.
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