Louisville protester Kris Smith fatally shot weeks after death of BLM activist
The victim was found dead inside a vehicle on Friday
A second Louisville protester has been shot and killed following the death of local activist Travis Nagdy.
The killing of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky brougt together many advocates for social justice and police reform, but unfortunately, it also lead to the death of yet another demonstrator, 42-year-old Kris Smith.
On Friday, Smith was killed on the 299 block of North 26 Street, USA Today reported. Just like Nagdy, the 42-year-old business owner, a regular at Black Lives Matter protests, was fatally shot inside a vehicle, according to Louisville Metro Police.
READ MORE: BLM leader in Breonna Taylor protests fatally shot in carjacking
theGrio previously reported, Nagdy’s death hit the community hard, and hours after the tragedy in late November, Smith spoke fondly of him.
“He’s gonna be missed over here, because he was really one of the good ones,” Smith told The Courier Journal at the time. Nagdy was a prominent leader in the BLM movement demanding justice for Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in March during a botched drug raid on her apartment. No drugs were found during the police search and not one cop has been held accountable for her death.
Taylor’s case sparked national outrage and Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country.
“It makes me feel good that I can come out here and it doesn’t matter where you came from, it doesn’t matter what happened previously in your life,” Nadgy told The Associated Press in September, the Daily Mail reported. “You’re here right now, you’re in this movement.”
Sadly, Nagdy was killed during a suspected car jacking on Nov. 23, in Louisville.
“Just like everybody else, he was finding his niche, finding his voice” at the protests, Stachelle Bussey, a pastor and friend of Smith’s, told USA Today. “We’re mourning one, then we lose another. … With Travis, I lost a brother. Today we lost another one.”
Read More: Breonna Taylor memorial to be relocated to African American museum in Louisville
Smith’s wife and Bussey identified his body at the University of Louisville Hospital, according to the report.
Out of the more than 150 homicides in Louisville in 2020, Smith’s death is part of the statistic that surpassed the previous record of 117 homicides in 2016.
According to reports, no suspects have been arrested for the deaths of Nagdy or Smith.
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