2 Police Officers Shot in Louisville as Breonna Taylor Protests Intensify

Two Louisville Metro Police Department officers were shot and taken to the hospital Wednesday night, as protests broke out across the city after a grand jury’s decision to charge only one officer involved in the raid that killed Breonna Taylor. A source with the Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed both shootings to VICE News’ Roberto Ferdman.

Interim Louisville Metro Police Chief Robert Schroeder said during a press conference Wednesday that officers were shot on their way to investigate reports of a large crowd and gunfire. He said that a suspect had been taken into custody over the shooting, although details have not been released. The shooting left one officer in surgery, while the other was alert as of Wednesday evening. Both are in stable condition and expected to recover.

The shooting happened at about 8:30 p.m., according to WAVE, a local NBC affiliate. The FBI’s Louisville office said in a tweet around 9 p.m. Wednesday that its SWAT team had also responded.

A video posted to YouTube and Twitter, and confirmed by VICE News, showed people running away from gunfire in downtown Louisville. Landmarks in the video correspond with where the shooting reportedly occurred, at Brook Street and Broadway.

“They’re blasting at the police!” the person who filmed the video can be heard saying.

Protests erupted in Louisville after a grand jury chose to indict ex-detective Brett Hankison on charges related to putting Taylor’s neighbors at risk—rather than directly related to killing the 26-year-old EMT. Hankison faces three charges of wanton endangerment for firing into a neighbor’s apartment, one for each person inside, none of whom were injured.

Two other officers, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, both fired rounds that struck the 26-year-old, although neither were indicted by the grand jury Wednesday.

READ: Police Knew There Might Be Another Person — and a Gun — at Breonna Taylor’s Home

“The decision before my office as the special prosecutor, in this case, was not to decide if the loss of Ms. Taylor’s life was a tragedy. The answer to that question is unequivocal yes,” Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Wednesday. “My job as the special prosecutor, in this case, was to put emotions aside and investigate the facts to determine if criminal violations of state law resulted in the loss of Ms. Taylor’s life.”

Hankison had already been let go from the department in June over the incident, since he had fired his weapon indiscriminately and “displayed extreme indifference to the value of human life,” according to a termination letter from the police chief. However, none of his 10 rounds hit Taylor.