Beyoncé penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general on Sunday, demanding the three officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor be criminally charged.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was killed on March 13 after officers from the Louisville Metro Police Department busted through the door of her home around 12:40 a.m. to execute a no-knock search warrant for drugs.
No drugs were found in the home and the suspect at the center of the police investigation had already been taken into custody at another residence, Taylor's mother said in a lawsuit.
“Three months have passed — and the LMPD’s investigations have created more questions than answers,” Beyoncé wrote in her letter.
The singer made three demands in her letter to Attorney General Daniel Cameron: that criminal charges be brought against the officers involved in the killing, that he would commit to transparency in the investigation and subsequent prosecution of the officers and that he would investigate LMPD’s response to what she called “Breonna Taylor’s murder” and the “pervasive practices that result in repeated deaths of unarmed Black citizens.”
Beyoncé also questioned what she said were inconsistencies in the LMPD’s accounts of the night police killed Taylor.
“Their incident report states that Ms. Taylor suffered no injuries, yet we know she was shot at least eight times,” Beyonce wrote. “The LMPD officers claim they announced themselves before forcing their way into Ms. Taylor’s apartment — but her boyfriend who was with her, as well as several neighbors, all say this is untrue.”
Taylor’s killing has gained increased attention around the country in recent weeks, as her community in Kentucky and protesters across the country demand action be taken against the officers responsible for her death. The three officers are still employed by the LMPD.
On Thursday, the Louisville Metro Council passed Breonna's Law, which bans the city's police department from using no-knock warrants and requires the use of officer body cameras whenever a warrant is served. Beyoncé called the law a “small step in the right direction” but also a “painful” reminder that there has been “no justice for Breonna Taylor or her family,”
“Take swift and decisive action in charging the officers,” she wrote. “The next months cannot look like the last three.”
