Louisville has hired Atlanta’s former chief, Erika Shields, to lead its police department after months of unrest over the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and fired two more officers involved in the deadly raid. This was announced on Wednesday, with the appointment of the new chief.
Detectives Myles Cosgrove and Joshua Jaynes, who were fired on Tuesday, are the latest detectives the department has terminated in connection with the fatal police shooting of Taylor. A third detective, Brett Hankison, was fired in June for “blindly” firing 10 rounds into her apartment.
Cosgrove, who the FBI concluded fired the shot that killed Taylor, violated procedures for use of force and failing to use a body camera during the March 13 search warrant. Jaynes, meanwhile, the officer who secured the search warrant for Taylor’s apartment, was found in violation of department policy for truthfulness and search warrant preparation.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in her apartment during a flawed forced-entry raid in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020. Taylor’s death, along with that of other Black people at the hands of law enforcement, sparked a summer of protests calling for police reform.