Page 4 - aruba-today-20210107

A4 U.S. NEWS
Thursday 7 January 2021
2 detectives involved in Breonna Taylor's death are fired

By DYLAN LOVAN against the officers for Tay-
Associated Press lor's death. Speaking anon-
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two ymously, the jurors said they
more officers involved in believe they would have
the fatal shooting of Breon- brought criminal charges
na Taylor have been fired against the officers if given
— a detective believed to the chance.
have fired the fatal shot For months, Taylor's name
and another who sought has been a rallying cry for
the search warrant that led activists protesting police
to the deadly raid, authori- killings of Black men and
ties announced Wednes- women. Famous musicians,
day. actors, athletes and politi-
The announcement came cians have called for the
moments after city officials officers' arrests.
said the former Atlanta po- Trust between police and
lice chief would soon take many in the city's Black
over the Louisville Police community has frayed
Department after months of since Taylor's death, which
unrest over Taylor's death. sparked the firing of the
Erika Shields served in At- city's longtime chief, Steve
lanta for 25 years, includ- Conrad. Two interim chiefs,
ing more than three years including Gentry, the first
as chief. Her tenure ended Black woman to the lead
when she resigned in June the department, have
after Atlanta officers fatally served since Conrad was
shot a Black man named fired in June.
Rayshard Brooks in a res- Shields will be the fourth
taurant parking lot. person to lead the police
Detectives Myles Cos- force in Kentucky's largest
grove, who shot Taylor, city since Taylor was shot.
and Joshua Jaynes, who "I commit to begin my work
sought the warrant for the Former Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields speaks after being named the new Louisville, Ky., police here with a focus on re-
March 13 drug raid, were chief on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. building community trust,
informed of their firings on Associated Press trust that I believe was al-
Tuesday. Their dismissals ready eroding prior to Bre-
follow that of officer Brett Taylor came from Cos- was "untruthful" about how Jaynes and Cosgrove have onna Taylor's killing," Shields
Hankison, who was fired in grove. he obtained some informa- been on administrative re- said. She also pledged to
September after being in- In Cosgrove's dismissal let- tion about Taylor in the war- assignment, along with tackle gun violence in the
dicted by a grand jury on ter, interim Police Chief rant, Gentry wrote. Jaynes another officer who was city, which had a record
charges of endangering Yvette Gentry wrote that was not at the scene the at the raid, Sgt. Jonathan 173 homicides in 2020.
Taylor's neighbors by firing the detective violated the night Taylor was shot. Mattingly. Shields said she was "sick-
bullets that went through department's use-of-force In a May interview with Lou- Mattingly was shot in the ened" by Brooks' shoot-
her home and into an ad- policies for firing 16 shots isville police investigators, leg by Taylor's boyfriend, ing and that staying on as
jacent apartment. without identifying a target Jaynes acknowledged who said he thought an chief in Atlanta would have
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black and for not activating his that he did not personally intruder was breaking into amounted to a distraction.
emergency medical tech- body camera. verify that a drug-traffick- the home. Mattingly said in To Louisville residents who
nician, was killed as offi- Gentry cited Cosgrove's ing suspect was receiving October that he intended might be upset over her hir-
cers attempted to serve a statements to internal in- mail at Taylor's apartment, to retire. ing, Shields said she "would
no-knock search warrant. vestigators that he began even though he had said in In September, Kentucky just ask that people step
None of the three white firing at a "distorted shad- an earlier affidavit that he Attorney General Daniel back, take the time to see
officers who fired into her owy mass" after Taylor's had. Jaynes said he relied Cameron, who took on the what I accomplished, what
home were charged by a boyfriend fired a single shot instead on information from role of special prosecutor I believe in and how I led
grand jury in her death. at officers. a fellow officer. in the case, said Cosgrove the department."
Investigators said Cos- "The shots you fired were in "I acknowledge that you and Mattingly were not Shields starts the job on
grove fired 16 rounds into three different directions, prepared the warrant in charged with Taylor's kill- Jan. 19.
the apartment after police indicating you did not ver- good faith," Gentry wrote ing because they acted A day earlier, a Wisconsin
breached the front door ify a threat or have target in a letter to Jaynes. "How- to protect themselves. The prosecutor declined to file
and Taylor's boyfriend fired acquisition," Gentry wrote. ever you failed to inform decision disappointed and charges against a white
a shot at them. Federal Jaynes, the detective who the judge that you had no angered protesters who police officer who shot a
ballistics experts said they sought the narcotics war- contact with the US postal have been calling for jus- Black man in the back in
believe the shot that killed rant that led to the raid, inspector." tice for Taylor for six months, August in Kenosha. The
and they vowed to stay in wounding of Jacob Blake,
the streets until all the of- who was left paralyzed,
ficers involved were fired also sparked protests over
or someone was charged police brutality and racism.
with her killing. Authorities concluded that
Three grand jurors have they could not disprove the
since come forward to say officer's contention that
that Cameron did not allow he acted in self-defense
the grand jury to consider because he feared Blake
homicide-related charges would stab him.q