Louisville Mayor Greg Fisher announced Friday that one of the three officers involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor has been fired.
Taylor, who was black, was a 26-year-old emergency room technician. The police broke into her home on March 13 using a no-knock warrant that had been issued over a dubious connection to an investigation into drug dealers who lived far from Taylor's apartment. After a short confrontation, the police "blindly" shot Taylor at least eight times, killing her. Taylor's death sparked renewed outrage after the alleged murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and calls have grown for Taylor's killers to face justice.
Interim Louisville police Chief Robert Schroeder confirmed that the department fired Officer Brett Hankison. "I find your conduct a shock to the conscience," Schroeder wrote in a Friday letter to Hankison that laid out his charges, as reported by the Louisville Courier Journal. "I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion … Your conduct demands your termination."
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The other two officers involved in the shooting are on administrative reassignment, with investigations ongoing.
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