Breonna Taylor flyover.jpg

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A plane flew over downtown Louisville on Saturday afternoon with a banner reading, "BREONNA WAS ESSENTIAL. DEFUND LMPD."

The plane and its banner flew over the city between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m Saturday, which marked three months since Breonna Taylor, an emergency room tech and former EMT, was shot and killed during a March 13 police raid on her apartment. The banner was commissioned by UltraViolet, a community organization aimed at ending sexism, and Color of Change, a racial justice organization, in coordination with Black Lives Matter Louisville.

The shooting death of Taylor, a black woman, has prompted weeks of protests in Louisville calling for charges to be brought against the officers involved in the raid on her apartment.

"Breonna was an essential member of the Louisville community, an essential worker, and her life mattered," UltraViolet Executive Director Shaunna Thomas said in a news release. "We stand in solidarity with her family, and friends and are working in conjunction with Black Lives Matter Louisville activists who are demanding justice for her death, to keep up the pressure on all responsible parties."

In addition, Activist Christopher 2X and his organization "Game Changers" has placed billboards around Louisville that feature a picture of Taylor with the words "Be a game changer." 

The signs are located on the Convention Center and near the Exposition Center off Interstate 65. 2X says the billboards represent how Breonna Taylor is a game change, even in death. 

In obtaining a no-knock warrant on Taylor's apartment near Pleasure Ridge Park, police claimed suspected drug dealer Jamarcus Glover was using the residence to receive packages and keep narcotics or proceeds from drug sales. In an audio clip released by Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly with the Louisville Metro Police Department said officers knocked on Taylor's door "six or seven times" and repeatedly announced their presence. 

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, acknowledged hearing someone knocking on the apartment door, according to audio released by Wine. An attorney representing Walker said Walker thought Taylor's apartment was being robbed when Mattingly and LMPD officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison used a battering ram to break down the residence's door. Walker fired a shot at the officers and hit Mattingly in the leg, which police said prompted officers to return fire. 

"So there's a loud boom at the door," Walker said in the audio released by Wine. "First thing she said was, 'Who is it?' No response.

"So then I grab my gun, which is legal; like, I'm licensed to carry," he continued. "I've never even fired my gun outside of a range. I'm scared to death. So she says, 'There's another knock at the door.' She's yelling at the top of her lungs, and I am too at this point. 'Who is it?' No answer. No response. No anything.

"So we both are just putting on something to go answer the door and see who's knocking at the door, and it's late at night. So when we come out, when we get out of the bed or whatever, like walking towards the door, the door, like, comes, like, off the hinges, so I just like let off one shot. Like I still can't see who it is or anything. So now the door's like flying open. I let off one shot, then all of sudden there's a whole lot of shots, and we both just dropped to the ground."

Taylor was shot eight times and killed during the raid. Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cosgrove, Hankison and Mattingly. Walker was charged with attempted murder for shooting Mattingly, who underwent surgery for what police said were severe injuries, but the charge was dropped in late May. 

In the moments after raid, Walker told a 911 dispatcher he didn't know what was happening and that someone "kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend," according to audio released by an attorney representing Taylor's family. 

Nothing illegal was found in Taylor's home after her death, which prompted Louisville Metro Council to pass legislation banning the use of no-knock warrants in the city. 

Cosgrove, Hankison, Mattingly and Det. Joshua Jaynes, who applied for the warrant on Taylor's apartment, have been placed on administrative reassignment. 

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