‘A state of emergency’ Louisville braces for grand jury decision in

For months, protesters have chanted it in the streets, blasted it on social media and plastered it on signs at demonstrations, spreading the message seemingly everywhere across Louisville: Arrest the police who killed Breonna Taylor. After Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot during a police raid at her apartment in March, the call to hold three officers accountable became a nationwide rallying cry, fueling nationwide protests against racial injustice. But with the results of a criminal investigation into those officers expected as soon as this week, Kentucky’s largest city is bracing for what may be the most explosive development yet in the high-profile fallout over Taylor’s death. The city’s police leadership has declared “a state of emergency” and canceled all days off, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said he is prepared to deploy the National Guard to quell possible demonstrations. The news comes as six officers are reportedly under investigation by the Louisville Metro Police Department for their role in the drug raid that ended in Taylor’s death. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) is expected to announce whether the three officers who fired into Taylor’s apartment while executing a “no-knock” search warrant will be charged. He can bring a case to a grand jury, which could indict the officers, but Cameron has previously declined to discuss the specifics of a timeline. Yet, following a summer of widespread protests over the police killings of Black people — from Minneapolis to Kenosha, Wis., and far beyond — his decision may be seen as a litmus test over questions of accountability for law enforcement officials implicated in such incidents. The March 13 raid on Taylor’s Louisville apartment was conducted in connection to a drug investigation. Taylor had been linked to an ex who was arrested on the same night, although her family has contested evidence put forth by police. A young emergency room technician and aspiring nurse, Taylor and her boyfriend, 27-year-old Kenneth Walker, were asleep in her apartment when they heard someone coming in through the door. Three White plainclothes officers — Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove — had entered on the no-knock warrant, the Courier-Journal reported. After Walker let off one shot, fearing the police were intruders, the officers responded with more than 20, including multiple that hit Taylor and killed her. Her death drew scant attention at the national level until later that spring, when the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide demonstrations. Soon, Taylor’s face was everywhere — on billboards, magazine covers and posters, morphing into a symbol of a movement that reached every major city in the country. Almost every night since then, a group of protesters in Louisville has taken to the streets demanding justice for Taylor.