Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Harris seeks probe into death of EMT in Kentucky

- Tessa Duvall, Darcy Costello and Phillip M. Bailey

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is demanding federal investigat­ors examine the controvers­ial shooting of EMT Breonna Taylor.

“I’m calling for the Department of Justice to investigat­e #BreonnaTay­lor’s death,” Harris, a California Democrat, said in a tweet Wednesday. “Her family deserves answers.”

The former presidenti­al candidate described Taylor, 26, as a young woman with a dream of becoming a nurse and how she was fatally shot by police while in her apartment.

Harris incorrectl­y stated on NBC News that police were “at the wrong place trying to serve a warrant.”

Louisville narcotics officers did have a warrant for Taylor’s address and to search her apartment on March 13. But the warrant shows she was not the main target of the drug investigat­ion and that no illegal narcotics were found inside the apartment.

The Louisville Metro Police investigat­ion, records show, was centered around a “trap house” on Elliott Avenue more than 10 miles from Taylor’s apartment and two suspects police believed were selling drugs at the Russell neighborho­od address.

Taylor’s shooting death has raised questions about why officers entered her home early March 13 and opened fire on her in her apartment.

Police say Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired first, wounding an officer. Walker says he believed someone was breaking into the home.

Taylor was shot eight times by officers before being pronounced dead at the scene.

No body-camera footage is available because officers in the department’s Criminal Interdicti­on Division who conducted the search warrant do not wear cameras, police Chief Steve Conrad previously said.

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