Four Officers Federally Charged 2 Years After Breonna Taylor Killing

Four former and current Louisville Metro Police Department officers have been charged in connection to the 2020 shooting of Breonna Taylor.

The U.S. Department of Justice have federally charged four former and current Louisville Metro Police Department officers in connection with the March 2020 murder of Breonna Taylor that took place during a raid. According to WDRB, former Louisville detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison along current LMPD officers Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett face charges of "civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies [and] force and obstruction."

Although Jaynes, Hankison and Meany were federally indicted, Goodlett was "charged on information," with one count of conspiracy.

In Washington, Justice Department officials said that a false warrant at Taylor's Springfield Drive apartment led to the raid and shooting on March 13, 2020. After asking a judge to approve a search warrant of the apartment, Jaynes claimed in an affidavit that Taylor's boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover was using Taylor's apartment to receive parcels, allegedly for drugs. Attorney General Merrick Garland responded by saying Jaynes' accusation was untrue.

"The affidavit falsely claimed that officers had verified that the target of the alleged drug trafficking operation had received packages at Ms. Taylor's address," Garland said. "In fact, defendants Jaynes and Goodlett knew that was not true."

Garland continued by saying that the LMPD used "unlawful conduct" to cover up Taylor's murder. Civil rights Ben Crump, who represents Taylor's family along with Lonita Baker and Sam Aguiar said on Thursday that it was "a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor."

"We hope this announcement of a guilty plea sends a message to all other involved officers that it is time to stop covering up and time to accept responsibility for their roles in causing the death of an innocent, beautiful young Black woman," the attorneys said in a joint statement.

In a separate investigation, the Justice Department is looking into whether LMPD uses excessive force during search warrants and racially discriminatory policing.