LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Music and entertainment icon Beyoncé Knowles-Carter wrote an open letter to the Attorney General of Kentucky Daniel Cameron, seeking justice for Breonna Taylor, a Louisville, Kentucky woman who was killed by police inside of her home three months ago.
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was killed during a police raid on her home on March 13. Officers responded to Taylor’s home with a no-knock search warrant as part of a narcotics investigation.
Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at police, thinking they were intruders. Police returned fire and shot Taylor dead. No drugs were found at her home.
Since Taylor’s death, the three officers involved, and the detective who requested the no-knock warrant, have been placed on administrative reassignment and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched its own investigation into the case, but no charges have been filed in connection to Taylor's death.
The Louisville Metro Police Department has released the incident report from the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in her apartment, but it’s almost entirely blank.
Beyoncé’s letter to Kentucky’s Attorney General calls for the three officers involved in the shooting—Jonathan Mattingly, Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison— be criminally charged.
The letter also urges for transparency into the investigation and prosecution of the three officers, as well as an investigation into the LMPD’s response to Taylor’s death.
“Don’t let this case fall into the pattern of no action after a terrible tragedy. With every death of a Black person at the hands of the police, there are two real tragedies: the death itself, and the inaction and delays that follow it. This is your chance to end that pattern. Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers. The next months cannot look like the last three,” Beyoncé said, concluding her letter.
To read the letter, click here.
