Two Louisville, Kentucky, police officers were shot Wednesday night in the city’s downtown amid protests after a grand jury did not indict cops in the killing of Breonna Taylor.
The officers were shot around 8:30 p.m. near Broadway and Brook Street as residents took to the city’s streets after the grand jury’s decision was handed down earlier in the day, the Louisville Metro Police said.
An unidentified suspect was taken into custody at the scene, but charges against them were not released.
Both officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, said Robert Schroeder, the LMPD’s interim police chief.
“I am very concerned about the safety of our officers,” Schroeder told reporters Wednesday night.
“Obviously, we’ve had two officers shot tonight. And that is very scary and a very dangerous condition,” he added.
One of the cops was shot in the abdomen, below his bulletproof vest, and was rushed to surgery, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported, citing sources.
The second officer was hit in the thigh, according to the newspaper.
An LMPD livestream appeared to show the moment gunfire erupted. As fireworks exploded overhead, multiple shots could be heard ringing out, sending officers scrambling to take cover.
“Shots fired! Shots fired!” an officer yells, pointing to a wounded cop. “Right there. Right there, yeah. Officer down,” she continues as sirens wail.
Further details were not immediately clear.
The shooting took place just 30 minutes before the city’s mandated 9 p.m. curfew.
Federal authorities said they were dispatched to the city to aid in the investigation.
“The FBI Louisville SWAT team has responded to an LMPD officer being shot and will continue to assist in the investigation,” the FBI’s Louisville branch tweeted.
The city had proactively issued a “state of emergency” declaration anticipating unrest over the grand jury decision announced Wednesday afternoon.
The decision cleared current and former police officers in the March shooting death of Taylor. One ex-cop was indicted for “wantonly” firing shots into another apartment the night she died.
