On this day one year ago, in Louisville, Kentucky, Breonna Taylor’s life ended, when she was shot by police officers forcibly entering her home in the middle of the night, clumsily carrying out a search warrant based on highly questionable intelligence, involving a suspect nobody even expected to find at her house. No evidence of their suspect’s crime was found in her home either.
Breonna, a caring, loving, charismatic young woman, was a dedicated healthcare worker, a beloved daughter, a sister, an aunt, and the love of a young man’s life. Since her untimely death, she’s become the face of a movement.
As of December, three Louisville Metro Police Department detectives involved in her death have been terminated from the force. No one has been charged, except for Kenneth Walker, Breonna’s boyfriend, who fired one shot at who they thought were intruders, striking an officer.
In our series from last fall, “Thirteenth of March,” the story is told in three parts, from the perspectives of Kenneth Walker and Breonna’s mother, of the three officers who fired on Kenneth and Breonna, and of the Attorney General of Kentucky. Each segment comes with links to coverage that goes even deeper in-depth, including Kenneth Walker’s interview with Gayle King, the LMPD’s investigative report, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s August article in Vanity Fair, and the December New York Times video article that detailed exactly how the mismanaged raid on Breonna’s apartment went down, clearing up a year of misconceptions from multiple angles.
What is certain: as of today, despite the State of Kentucky’s investigation, justice for Breonna Taylor still has not been served. But we don’t know yet how this story will end, only how it began . . .
-Maude
March 13, 2021