The death of Breonna Taylor as police executed a search warrant in Louisville, Ky., has come under renewed focus.
The 26-year-old first responder was killed in her own home in March — months before tensions related to racial injustice in the United States reached a boiling point.
Her case has since become part of a worldwide movement denouncing police violence and systemic racism. Protesters across the U.S. have been carrying signs her with name and picture alongside those of George Floyd, who died in the custody of Minneapolis police on May 25.
While the officers involved in Floyd’s case are now facing charges, those who showed up to Taylor’s house that night and opened fire, so far, are not.
Here’s what we know about her death and the investigation so far.
On March 13, shortly after midnight, Louisville police executed a search warrant at a residence they believed was connected to a narcotics investigation.
The police were investigating two men accused of selling drugs at a home more than 10 miles from Taylor’s apartment, according to records reported by the Louisville Courier Journal.
A judge had signed a warrant allowing police to search Taylor’s home because police suspected that one of the two men had used her apartment to receive packages. The judge signed off on a “no-knock” provision, which allowed the officers to enter Taylor’s home without warning and without identifying themselves as law enforcement.
Louisville police said that despite the warrant, the officers identified themselves before using a battering ram to enter the home. A lawsuit filed by her family disputes that, as does one filed by Taylor’s neighbour, Chelsey Napper.
Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed when the officers entered.
Police allege that the officers were “immediately met by gunfire” from Walker. According to the family’s wrongful death lawsuit, Walker, a licensed gun owner, shot an officer in the leg.
The officers returned gunfire, firing dozens of times, the suit claims.
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