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The scenes of the shooting and its consequences were published on social networks.
A suspect was arrested after a fatal shooting at a protest in Louisville, Kentucky for the murder of Breonna Taylor, police said.
The suspect, who was not identified, was hospitalized and interviewed by investigators, police chief Robert Schroeder told reporters.
One person died in the shooting on Saturday. The victim was Tyler Gerth, 27, of Louisville.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the shooting was “difficult to understand.”
The gunman opened fire from the edge of the protest area in Jefferson Square Park around 9:00 p.m. Saturday, Fischer said, “resulting in multiple people shooting guns and mayhem.”
The gunman who started the incident was injured, he added.
- Why is the name of Breonna Taylor chanted in the demos?
CCTV footage released by police showed a man on the edge of the plaza lifting what appeared to be a pistol and repeatedly shooting at a crowd after a confrontation.
The crowd in the park protested the death of Ms. Taylor, a black emergency medical technician who died when police officers raided the house he was in on March 13.
Schroeder, the Louisville police chief, said at a press conference Sunday that the suspect had participated in the protests in Louisville and had been arrested multiple times in the past few weeks for disorderly conduct.
Other protesters had repeatedly asked the suspect to leave the park because of his disruptive behavior, Schroeder said.
Fischer said he was “deeply saddened” by the violence. “It is a tragedy that this area of peaceful protest is now a crime scene,” he said.
What happened to Breonna Taylor?
Ms. Taylor was at her home in bed in Louisville on March 13 when police officers entered her apartment shortly after midnight. Officers were executing a so-called no hit order, which allows police to enter the home without notice.
Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend, who has a gun license, shot during the incident and later said he believed there were intruders in the house. Ms. Taylor died after being shot eight times by the police.
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Breonna Taylor, 26, was a decorated EMS technician.
No drugs were found on the property. A lawsuit filed by Ms. Taylor’s family says officers were not looking for her or her partner, but for an unrelated suspect who did not live in the complex and was already in custody.
Ms. Taylor’s name has figured prominently in global protests against racism in George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, with calls to arrest officers who raided the apartment.
Since then, the city has banned the use of arrest warrants, and legislation to ban them across the country has been introduced in the United States Congress.
