On Saturday (June 28), news broke that a man was fatally shot during a Breonna Taylor protest in Louisville, Kentucky.
According to The New York Times, gunshots were fired at Jefferson Square Park around 9 p.m. EST. Officers at the scene performed “life-saving measures” on the victim, but he was later pronounced dead. Another person was also hit and was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement that he was heartbroken by the events that took place last night. “I am deeply saddened by the violence that erupted in Jefferson Square Park tonight, where those who have been voicing their concerns have been gathered. It is a tragedy that this area of peaceful protest is now a crime scene,” he said.
Back in March, Taylor was fatally shot inside her Louisville home by cops, who were serving a no-knock warrant. Since then, a bill has been passed, which is supposed to prevent a similar incident from occurring.
The devastating news of the shooting at Louisville came after Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer appeared on “CBS This Morning” with Tina Knowles-Lawson to speak about systematic racism.
“I’m happy to hear that he was fired,” Palmer said in regards to Brett Hankison, the former cop involved in the fatal shooting of her daughter. “He should’ve been fired. It’s just the beginning though. It’s so much more to go. There’s so many other people involved.”
Like Palmer, Knowles-Lawson also shared a similar sentiment. “I tell them to start with themselves and to look in the mirror,” she said when asked about the fight against racism in America. “And to see what part you played, whether you are a Black middle class person who has gotten out of touch with what’s happening in the world and, you know, you can be so critical and so judgmental of people who are having a hard time and they need a break.”