The FBI announced Thursday that it has opened an investigation into the case of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman who was fatally shot in her apartment by Louisville, Ky. city police.
“FBI Louisville has opened an investigation into the shooting of Breonna Taylor. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner,” Special Agent in Charge Robert Brown said in a statement shared on Twitter Thursday.
Taylor, an EMT in Louisville, was allegedly shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police Department officers in her apartment on March 13. Officials said the plainclothes officers were executing a search warrant in a drug case.
However, the Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, believed that their home was being broken into, according to a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family, NBC News reported.
The lawsuit claims that police officers were searching for man who did not live in Taylor’s apartment complex when they executed the search on her home. The man was also detained before the officers arrived at Taylor’s apartment.
The suit also says that Walker shot at the officers after they entered without knocking or announcing who they were. The police officers fired over 20 shots, and Taylor was struck at least eight times.
Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said in a statement last week that “the public reports concerning the death of Breonna Taylor are troubling. Her family and the public at large deserve the full facts regarding her death.”
Beshear called on Kentucky’s attorney, the U.S. attorney and the Kentucky attorney general to “carefully review the results of the initial investigation to ensure justice is done at a time when many are concerned that justice is not blind.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said last week his office was asked to serve as a special prosecutor in the case.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad announced his retirement Thursday, the Louisville Courier Journal reported.