In Breonna’s name

The killing of Breonna Taylor was, in almost every sense of the word, a crime, which is why the failure to indict two of the three officers who burst into her apartment and fired a hail of bullets at her and her boyfriend is agonizing for all who nobly carry the Black Lives Matter banner.

But the question for a Louisville grand jury was whether Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove committed felonies, provable in a court of law, when they pulled their triggers multiple times. Though painful, the answer to that question was no, because the two officers fired in response to a shot fired by Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker.

As for the third cop, then-Det. Brett Hankison (justifiably fired from the force), he was indicted of wanton endangerment, punishable by up to five years in prison, and could well have been charged with worse, for positioning himself outside Taylor’s home and firing into a nearby apartment occupied by a pregnant woman, a child and man. (None of Hankison’s bullets hit Taylor.) These three men’s personal criminal culpability or lack thereof in Taylor’s infuriating death must be understood in parallel with glaring failures that compounded in the middle of that Louisville night on March 13. The no-knock warrant should never have been approved. Mattingly and Cosgrove, who say they announced themselves as police, didn’t do so loudly enough to be heard inside. Cops’ main suspect in their narcotics investigation was already in custody by the time of the 1 a.m. raid, which turned up no drugs.

Louisville promised reforms righting some of these wrongs in conjunction with a settlement with Taylor’s family. They must come swiftly, and other departments must follow.

It is easy to say Taylor’s death was caused by error upon error upon error, but it was actually the system functioning as intended, with wanton disregard for a stolen life. Few are guilty, but all are responsible.