Louisville, Kentucky, police announced Thursday morning that more than 100 people were arrested overnight during a rash of unrest connected to yesterday’s grand jury indictments in the Breonna Taylor case. Those arrested include a 26-year-old black man accused of shooting two police officers.
Wednesday night, demonstrators took to the streets to protest the grand jury’s decision to charge only one of several officers involved in the shootout that resulted in Taylor’s death. Detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing his service weapon into several apartments other than Taylor’s. Two other officers, who also fired their weapons, Kentucky Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, said, were found to be “justified” in their response because Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on police first.
As The Daily Wire reported, several police officers were shot amid the demonstrations that rocked Louisville last night. Two of those officers were rushed to a local hospital where they underwent emergency treatment. Both officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries and both are expected to recover.
“One officer was shot in the abdomen below their bulletproof vest and is in surgery, and a second was shot in the thigh, according to the source,” the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. “MetroSafe said it received reports the shooting occurred at South Brook Street and Broadway Avenue.”
Louisville police also reported that the suspected shooter was taken into custody immediately. The department released the man’s name Thursday morning.
“A suspect accused in shooting two Louisville police officers during protests Wednesday evening has also been identified. Larynzo Johnson, 26, has been charged with wanton endangerment and assault of a police officer,” Fox News reported. “He will be arraigned Friday.”
The outlet added that the officers were shot while “conducting crowd control operations in response to a large crowd that had set fires, caused property damage and failed to disperse after being warned.”
“Johnson ‘intentionally used a handgun to fire multiple bullets at officers” addressing the crowd, the complaint said. Two officers were struck by bullets causing serious physical injury. Police said witnesses spotted Johnson firing a handgun at officers and running from the scene,” Fox noted. “The complaint said he was also in possession of a handgun at the time of his arrest and law enforcement recovered video of the shooting showing the suspect fire at officers.”
Late Wednesday, Louisville officials noted that the Kentucky National Guard was on standby to handle any further crowd control, and the FBI’s office in Louisville tweeted that they were involved and assisting in an investigation into the shooting.
FBI Louisville and @LMPD are seeking the public's help regarding the shooting of LMPD officers on 09/23/2020. Anyone with pictures or videos of the incident is asked to provide those files using https://t.co/6PCitiZl9J.
— FBI Louisville (@FBILouisville) September 24, 2020
Louisville police are also asking the public for any videos or still photos of the incident.
Around 100 other individuals were also arrested in charges ranging from damaging and looting local businesses to interfering with police attempts to control and direct the protesting crowd. Metro Corrections in Louisville, which handles intake at local jails, told local media that many of the later arrests were “over curfew and unlawful assembly violations.”
“Thirteen people were arrested” at the scene of a confrontation with police officers in central Louisville, the Courier-Journal reported Thursday morning. “An additional 16 arrests were made downtown during the day” after protesters attempted to move a police barricade.