A grand jury indicted the officer on charges of endangering neighbors with reckless gunfire, but no one was charged for shooting Ms. Taylor in her Louisville apartment. The other two officers have not been indicted.
The long-awaited charges against the former officer, Brett Hankison, were immediately criticized by demonstrators and activists who had demanded more serious counts and the arrests of the three officers involved in the March shooting. The charges pertain to Hankison allegedly firing blindly through a door and window in Taylor's building.
The other two officers, Sgt. John Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove, were not charged following months of Breonna Taylor's death. Kentucky's Attorney General Daniel Cameron told reporters Wednesday that the officers were "justified in their use of force" because Taylor's boyfriend fired at officers first.
"The decision before my office is not to decide if the loss of Breonna Taylor's life was a tragedy," he said. "The answer to that question is unequivocally yes."
Cameron called the Taylor's death "a gut-wrenching emotional case" where "the pain is understandable." He defended the length of the investigation, saying the time reflected "how important it was to get this right."
"I know that not everyone will be satisfied," he said of the grand jury decision. "Our job is to present the facts to the grand jury, and the grand jury then applies the facts ... If we simply act on outrage, there is no justice. Mob justice is not justice. Justice sought by violence is not justice. It just becomes revenge."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky in a tweet called the decision to not charge the officers in her death "the latest miscarriage of justice in our nation's long history of denying that Black lives matter."
"Once again, a prosecutor has refused to hold law enforcement accountable for killing a young Black woman. Breonna Taylor should still be alive today."
The NAACP said in a statement that the justice system "failed" Taylor and the charges against one officer do "not go far enough."
Demonstrators at a makeshift memorial to Taylor in downtown Louisville called for Cameron to step down after the charges were announced in court and the former's detective's bond was set at $15,000. Some demonstrators marched in the downtown area.
"I understand that Miss Breanna Taylor's death has become a part of a national story in conversation," Cameron said. "We must also remember the facts and the collection of evidence in this case are different than cases elsewhere in the country. Each is unique and cannot be compared."
The charges come more than six months after Taylor, a 26-year-old Black EMT and aspiring nurse, was shot to death by Louisville police officers in her home. The officers broke down the door to her apartment while executing a late-night warrant in a narcotics investigation on March 13.
Louisville has prepared for the possibility of unrest from the decision. For months, protesters have criticized the length of the investigation and demanded the arrests of all officers involved.
Anticipating new protests, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Louisville Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder Wednesday afternoon announced a 72-hour countywide curfew starting 9 p.m. Government buildings will be closed.
The Kentucky National Guard has been activated, Schroeder said.
"I urge everyone to commit once again to a peaceful, lawful response, like we've seen here for the majority of the past several months," Fisher said.
The city and the police department had already declared states of emergency and set up barricades restricting vehicle access to downtown areas. Stores and restaurants have boarded up their windows, and some federal buildings closed for the week. Protesters started gathering Wednesday morning, hours before the expected announcement.
Taylor's death set off outrage across the country, chants of "say her name," calls to arrest the officers, and a renewed focus on the Black women killed by police. Her story gained wider attention during nationwide demonstrations that followed the late May killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Cameron, the first Black person to hold the post and a Republican rising star, was made a special prosecutor in the case in May, and the FBI opened an investigation as well.
A day after the grand jury convened, Sgt. Mattingly sent a mass email to the department early Tuesday defending his actions and slamming the city's leadership.
In June, Hankison was fired for "wantonly and blindly" firing into Taylor's apartment, Louisville's police chief said. Six officers involved in the incident are under internal investigation, LMPD said on Tuesday.
The city of Louisville announced on Sept. 15 a historic $12 million settlement of the family's wrongful death lawsuit. The city also agreed to enact police reforms which include using social workers to provide support on certain police runs and requiring commanders to review and approve search warrants before seeking judicial approval.
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