Louisville officer who shot Breonna Taylor is being fired

One of the Louisville Metro Police officers who killed Breonna Taylor is being fired, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said Friday. It has been more than three months since police shot and killed the 26-year-old Black woman after entering her home through a “no-knock” warrant during an investigation that was unrelated to her.

The police chief “is initiating termination procedures against Officer Brett Hankison,” Fischer announced.

“Unfortunately, due to a provision in state law that I would very much like to see changed, both the chief and I are precluded from talking about what brought us to this moment or even the timing of this decision,” Fischer said.

Hankison and the two other officers involved in Taylor’s death had been on administrative leave since March, pending an investigation into the shooting.

Taylor’s death, along with several other recent incidents of police brutality against Black people, including a white Minneapolis police officer killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck, have sparked massive protests and reckonings around the country in recent weeks.