Two police officers shot in Louisville Kentucky during riots over the Breonna Taylor case

 

An officer stands guard in Kentucky. ABC News/Reuters.

Two police officers have been shot in Louisville Kentucky during riots over the Breonna Taylor case. ABC News. The riots began after a grand jury indicted one of the three men involved in the shooting of Breonna Taylor for wanton endangerment. The two officers were in stable condition and one was in surgery. A suspect is already in custody. The Breonna Taylor case gained national attention as it involved police executing a warrant. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire on the officers and when officers returned fire they struck Taylor instead. Officer Brett Hankison was charged for the wanton endangerment of Taylor's neighbors as his rounds entered their apartment. The other two officers actions were ruled justified. Walker contends that the officers did not identify themselves as police and that's why he opened fire but police and witnesses contend that the officers did indeed identify themselves. 

LOUISVILLE - Massive Police and National Guard presence Brook/Broadway after an officer was injured after being shot at by Rioters pic.twitter.com/f5Hv9rgyD6

— FJ News Reporter (@FJNewsReporter) September 24, 2020

My Comment:

Even more violence committed by the rioters supporting Black Lives Matter and Antifa. And it sounds like more is going on. I have been listening to the scanner in Louisville and police have reported other shootings. The night is still early so more incidents could happen. 

The good news is that after the shooting happened it appears that police and the National Guard have broken up the riots. Without the cover of the larger group of protesters the bad actors don't have the cover they need to act. If more people try to shoot at the cops they will likely be shot back in return. 

There is evidence that this protest was organized. While it is true that everyone knew this was coming, Louisville declared an emergency earlier in the week, it's also true that there were people helping this along. Most notably a U-Haul truck full of signs was filmed and people successfully identified the person who rented it as a far-left activist. That doesn't mean the shooting was planned but it would not surprise me.  

As for the Breonna Taylor case itself, I have mixed feelings. In the past I was more sympathetic in that case then for most but as usual I had only heard the media's version of the events. From what I understand Taylor was actually fairly well involved in criminal activity and the claims that the incident was due to a no-knock warrant are disputed at best. Unlike most of the people Black Lives Matter protest over, she didn't deserve to die though. 

Should the officers have been charged? Without seeing the evidence of the case I am not sure. It sounds like Officer Hankison was reckless when he returned fire, but it also sounds like both Kenneth Walker and the other two officers have a good case for self defense. I think it's plausible that police did announce that they were police and I also think it's plausible that Walker never heard them. And Taylor's death? Just someone caught in the crossfire. I'm sure the grand jury had more information than I do so unless there is some other evidence of wrongdoing I'm fine with the outcome in this case. 

But it's clear that Black Lives Matter doesn't care that one of the officers was charged in this case or that Taylor's family was given millions of dollars. They also don't care that no-knock warrants aren't allowed in Kentucky anymore or that Senator Rand Paul tried to help pass a bill that would ban it nationally. All they want is violence and chaos. I am sure that even if all three officers involved in this case were unjustly charged with capital murder and summarily executed it still wouldn't be enough. As it was never about justice with these people, it's about hate.  

This level of violence is not sustainable. Sooner or later people are going to get tired of it and the normal people will start bringing violence to these rioters in return. Since these people are getting more and more bold it's only a matter of time before another Kenosha type situation happens. 

So what can stop these riots? Colder weather will probably help. People won't want to riot when it's -10 out. And once the election is over with I think a lot of the funding will dry up. People thought that the riots in the 2015-2016 era would continue throughout the Trump presidency but they stopped almost entirely after the inauguration. Regardless of who wins in November (and let's not kid ourselves, it's going to be President Trump) these riots will likely stop afterwards. 

I do hope that the gloves come off at that point though. Authorities know who these people are and who are funding them and it wouldn't be a big thing to round them all up. Though President Trump has gotten a little more aggressive with the rioters recently, if he wins he won't be tethered by the threat of elections anymore. My sincere hope is that he rounds up all of the leadership of these riots and fires everyone in the government who downplay the threat, like his spineless FBI director, Christopher Wray.