2 Louisville officers fired over Breonna Taylor shooting

Two officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor have been fired.

The officers involved in the fatal shooting were never charged in Taylor’s death. However, three officers have now been officially terminated from the Louisville Metro Police Department, per NBC News.

Detective Joshua Jaynes was officially terminated on Tuesday for his involvement in the shooting. Though he was not in the apartment at the time, Jaynes was responsible for securing the warrant that led the disastrous raid.

Thomas Clay, who serves as Jaynes’ attorney, said they would appeal the decision with the police termination review board.

“He’s being made a scapegoat,” said Clay to NBC News on Wednesday. He added the raid was “fully briefed.”

“There is culpability, if there is any culpability, it goes to the highest levels of Louisville metro government. He did nothing wrong. Joshua Jaynes did nothing wrong.”

Myles Cosgrove, who fired the shot that killed Taylor, was also terminated on Tuesday for failing to turn on his body camera or follow standard procedures when using deadly force.

Former LMPD Det. Brett Hankison was let go back in June and was charged with counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for recklessly firing shots in the apartment complex where Taylor lived.

In this Sept. 25, 2020, file photo, Black Lives Matter protesters march in Louisville. Hours of material in the grand jury proceedings for Taylor’s fatal shooting by police have been made public on Friday, Oct. 2. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

Read More: Louisville move to fire officers involved in raid that killed Breonna Taylor

The lack of justice for Taylor has gone far from unnoticed as organizations like the NAACP are still fighting on her behalf.

As previously reported by theGrio, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has released a report in November that revealed new findings in Taylor’s case. The report entitled “Justice Denied: An Overview of the Grand Jury Proceedings In The Breonna Taylor Case” stated that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron showed a pro-police bias in his presentation of the case to the grand jury.

On Sept. 23, jurors declined to charge two of the three officers in the Taylor raid, which took place on March 13. Acting on a ‘no-knock’ search warrant, the officers entered Taylor’s residence after midnight.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, a legal gun owner, fired a warning shot at the officers coming into their apartment, and they returned fire, killing Taylor.

NAACP LDF report said Cameron “did not make a fair and comprehensive presentation to the grand jury about the involved officers’ conduct that led to Ms. Taylor’s killing, but instead displayed an inappropriate bias in favor of the officers.”

Read More: Breonna Taylor sculpture vandalized, artist calls it ‘act of racist aggression’

The NAACP also said that Cameron did not provide grand jurors with video or audio evidence that was taken at the scene, nor did he explain why the evidence wasn’t made available.

And perhaps most damning, the report said that the grand jury testimony that had a heavy impact on the trial came from one witness, whose testimony was contrary to multiple other witnesses’ accounts.

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