Breonna Taylor: Police Say Officer Fired As Protests Turn Violent

Louisville police say an officer was shot amid protests over the lack of direct criminal charges for officers in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.

A spokesman for the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department issued a short statement Wednesday night saying: “We currently have an officer shot. We will update when we can.”

The statement did not elaborate on the officer’s condition or the circumstances of the shooting.

That development came amid a rapidly changing scene in Louisville, where police had previously fired flash bang devices to drive protesters from a downtown plaza Wednesday night.

The protesters had gathered there to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officers on criminal charges directly related to Taylor’s death.

Taylor, a black woman, was fatally shot during a police raid that went awry earlier this year.

Previously, Louisville police activated flash bang devices and cleared a plaza in that Kentucky city where several hundred people had gathered to protest a grand jury decision in Taylor’s murder.

The protesters had gathered Wednesday night at Jefferson Square in Louisville, where a fire started near the courthouse and then quickly extinguished.

Louisville police called the Wednesday night meeting an “illegal assembly” in a loudspeaker announcement and ordered the protesters to disperse. Police threatened arrests if people did not obey and officers in riot gear approached.

When police lined up with shields outside the courthouse, protesters threw plastic bottles of water at them. Officers fired flash bang devices to disperse the crowd and appeared to be heading elsewhere. Later, the square seemed almost empty.

The protesters had gathered in the Kentucky city to protest a grand jury’s decision not to indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to Taylor’s death earlier this year in a drug bust gone wrong.

Elsewhere, people protesting a grand jury’s decision not to directly charge any police officer for the fatal shooting of a black woman in Kentucky have demonstrated in American cities including New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Atlanta and Philadelphia

The protesters filled a New York City plaza. Chanting “Say your name, Breonna Taylor,” the crowd began to march through downtown Brooklyn, passing onlookers and honking cars. They were accompanied by musicians, establishing a constant drum beat.

The CNN news outlet showed protesters in Philadelphia. And a video on Twitter posted by a WJLA reporter in the Washington, DC area, showed protesters marching in the nation’s capital chanting “Black lives matter!”

– Associated Press