Louisville tense as new protests expected after Breonna Taylor ruling

Protests erupted in the Kentucky city on Wednesday after the state attorney general announced that a grand jury did not bring any charges for the six police bullets that struck Taylor, a Black woman, but instead lesser charges against one of the policemen for stray shots that hit the neighboring apartment. Civil rights activists decried the outcome as a miscarriage of justice and part of a nationwide pattern of unwarranted police violence against minorities.

Louisville braced for a second night of protests on Thursday after two police officers were shot during demonstrations over a decision by a grand jury not to file homicide charges against police in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor. Protests erupted in the Kentucky city on Wednesday after the state attorney general announced that a grand jury did not bring any charges for the six police bullets that struck Taylor, a Black woman, but instead lesser charges against one of the policemen for stray shots that hit the neighboring apartment.

Civil rights activists decried the outcome as a miscarriage of justice and part of a nationwide pattern of unwarranted police violence against minorities. The demonstration that started peacefully on Wednesday night turned violent after dark when the two officers were shot and wounded. Police arrested 127 people in Louisville.

It was the latest in a wave of protests that have gripped the country following the killings of African Americans by police, including the May 25 death of George Floyd when a Minneapolis officer knelt on his neck. Demonstrators, led by activists from the Black Lives Matter movement and others, have demanded an end to racial injustice and the use of excessive police force.

On Wednesday, protests also flared in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Seattle, where police said 13 were arrested for property destruction, resisting arrest, failure to disperse and assault on an officer. In Portland, Oregon, the scene of more than 100 straight nights of protests, police once again declared a riot on Wednesday in the unrest that followed the grand jury decision.

With people already casting ballots in early voting for the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, the demonstrations have drawn not only peaceful anti-racism protests but also a volatile mix of armed, right-wing militias and anarchists. MORE PROTESTS

Leaders of the Louisville anti-racism protesters have yet to announce plans for Thursday night, but typically they give little advance notice. "Tonight I expect more people to hit the streets. I expect the police to continue to antagonize and provoke. Hopefully and prayerfully, no one gets hurt tonight," said Timothy Findley Jr., 41, a leader of the Justice & Freedom Coalition and a pastor with the Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center in Louisville.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer called for an end to the violence, telling a news briefing, "We have to come together and create plans to address the wounds." Police said some protesters damaged businesses, jumped on a police vehicle, damaged public works trucks serving as barricades, set garbage cans on fire, and defied orders to disperse from what police determined were unlawful assemblies.

At least three stores were looted, police said. One suspect was arrested in connection with the shooting of the two officers and charged with two counts of assault in the first degree and 14 counts of wanton endangerment, interim Louisville Metropolitan Police chief Robert Schroeder said at the briefing.

"We are extremely fortunate these two officers will recover," Schroeder said. The Louisville Courier Journal identified the suspect as a 26-year-old man, citing police records.

'JUSTIFIED UNDER LAW' Taylor, 26, a Black emergency medical technician and aspiring nurse, was killed in front of her armed boyfriend after the three officers forced their way into her home with a search warrant in a drug-trafficking investigation.

Taylor's case drew little national attention at first but was thrust into prominence after Floyd's death and with the help of celebrities such as Hollywood stars and basketball great LeBron James. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said the panel declined to bring any charges against two of the three policemen who fired into Taylor's apartment because their actions were found to have been justified under Kentucky law as they returned fire after Taylor's boyfriend shot at them, wounding one.

Police fired a total of 32 shots after the one round from Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who said he fired a warning shot because he feared a criminal intrusion and did not hear police identify themselves. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said he asked Cameron, a Black Republican, to make public the evidence heard by the grand jury.

"Let people read it and process it and then be able to ask the tough questions that we, as elected officials, have to be able to answer," Beshear told CNN on Thursday.