Updates on Breonna Taylor and ‘Breonna’s Law’ Four Months After Her Murder

The continued justice for Breonna Taylor continues, four months after her death. It’s been four months since Louisville, KY native, Breonna Taylor, was shot to death in her sleep in her home, and the police officers involved in the incident still have not been arrested.

On March 13, the EMT worker and aspiring nurse lost her life during a search raid by police officers who had barged into her apartment, where she was living with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. According to the audio of Walker’s police interrogation, the officers never announced who they were nor did they knock. They claimed they were on the lookout for another suspect who had already been arrested for drug possession. At the time of the incident, when the officers rushed inside the apartment, Walker shot his firearm gun in self-defense, striking an officer in the leg. Taylor was sleeping in her bedroom when police shot her at least eight times, pronounced dead at the scene.

The officers — who have been identified as Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove — have not been arrested or charged for their crimes. The revelation has sparked anger, frustration and a need to bring Taylor’s death to justice.

The case has spread into national and international news, along with other cases of police brutality, including Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Elijah McClain. The Black Lives Matter movement has also transcended into a spotlight for Black women’s cases against the police system.

Taylor’s family lawyer, Benjamin Crump, stated in the Washington Post in April, “they’re killing our sisters just like they’re killing our brothers, but for whatever reason, we have not given our sisters the same attention that we have given to Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Stephon Clark, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald. Breonna’s name should be known by everybody in America who said those other names, because she was in her own home, doing absolutely nothing wrong.”

There is a bit of light in the darkness, though. A new law entitled Breonna’s Law was voted unanimously by Louisville City Council. The law stands in favor of banning no-knock search warrants, as well as cops using mandatory body cameras, “which have to be activated no later than five minutes prior to all searches and remain on for five minutes after.”

Murals and other designs have been created by local artists in tribute to Breonna Taylor. Most recently, a 7,000-square-foot (650-square-meter) mural was created in Annapolis, MD on July 7.