Nearly a year after Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by multiple Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers, her mother says justice still hasn’t been served.
In an interview with CNN, Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mom, said that justice for her daughter would mean the “officers arrested, and charged, and convicted.” Lonita Baker, the family’s lawyer, said they will continue to feel there has been no justice “until the officers who are responsible for Breonna’s death are criminally charged as they should be.”
Baker and the family want a grand jury to hear Taylor’s case and be able to choose from charges that correlate to her killing.
“A grand jury has never heard charges as it relates to the killing of Breonna Taylor,” the attorney continued. “A grand jury…did not decline to charge the officers,” she said, adding “instead it was [Attorney General] Daniel Cameron’s office who decided not to present charges on behalf of Breonna to a grand jury.”
Saturday (March 13) will mark a year since Taylor was tragically killed. None of the officers who were involved in her death — Det. Brett Hankison, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove — have been charged for the shooting as it pertains to her. Hankison was indicted on three charges of wanton endangerment for blindly shooting into the homes of Taylor’s neighbors.
Palmer says her daughter’s death is “still unbelievable” and she feels “anger, just anger that the way this whole thing happened, anger that it was so avoidable, and anger that she lost her life for it.” She also criticized how LMPD handled the case from the beginning, saying their lack of communication is “insane” and “disrespectful.”
“At this point, I don’t really know what they could say, like you’ve avoided me for a year, and I don’t know what it would do at this point,” Palmer said.
On Saturday, the family is planning a rally to continue a call for justice. “I’m grateful that the work hasn’t went unnoticed,” Taylor’s mom said. She wants the protesters “to not lose focus, not give up, because we still haven’t got what we came for…justice. Until that happens, I just, I hope they continue to have the strength and the courage to be out in the streets.”