Media reports out of Louisville, Kentucky are reporting that at least 10 shots have been fired at LMPD officers. The LMPD is accusing people protesting the murder of Breonna Taylor by former LMPD Detective Brett Hankison, but the exact source is unknown. Is this just the latest example of LMPD officers shooting away at anything they perceive as a threat, a right wing agitator trying to provoke a deadly response by the police, or is this justice being served by the people for the LMPD firing on Taylor's apartment with no regard for human life?
This shooting took place during a protest over the failure of the District Attorney to obtain an indictment against Detective Brett Hankison for the murder of Breonna Taylor (https://copblaster.com/blast/25975/brett-hankison-charged-for-endangering-breonna-taylors-neighbors). In that incident three LMPD officers broke into Taylor's home without identify themselves, Taylor's boyfriend opened fire thinking they were burglars, and the officers returned fire by recklessly shooting into the apartment through blinded windows with no regard for the people inside. When it was over Taylor was dead. The officers claimed self defense and today Hankison was indicted for wanton endangerment of Taylor's neighbors. This incident proved that the LMPD have no problem shooting recklessly in the direction of anything that they perceive as a threat. This shooting could easily be more of the same, but with their fellow officers being in the line of fire. Such an explanation would be consistent with the cowardly behavior exhibited by the LMPD in the past.
This could have been the result of a far-right agitator seeking to give the LMPD an excuse to use deadly force against mostly peaceful demonstrators. Far right agitators have been caught committing acts of violence against police while infiltrating protest groups. Their objectives are usually to discredit protesters by making them look violent and provoke violent responses from law enforcement. The gunman could have been such an agitator.
This shooting could have been an Antifa or Black Lives Matter activist retaliating for the wrongful killing of Breonna Taylor and the system of oppression that permits police to murder with impunity in this country. Like the "shot heard the world" at Concord (https://www.history.com/news/what-was-the-shot-heard-round-the-world) we typically classify such incidents as justice being served by the people. We are not saying that anyone should go out and shoot at the police, but we are saying in retrospect that when we analyze such incidents that they usually end up being categorized as justice served. Vigilante justice, yes, but a form of justice none the less. We are not sure if that is the case here, and again we are not advocating for anyone to shoot anyone in the future.
We will be doing the best we can to answer those questions and update this article accordingly. We do know that at least one officer was seen on the ground. In the video below you can hear gun shots, see the journalist point towards where she could see an officer down, and the police began to retreat as fast as they could.
UPDATE: At a press conference that is currently live on CNN, LMPD Interim Chief Robert Schroeder says that two officers were shot, they are in the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and there is a suspect in custody. No names were given. You can watch the press conference at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLMCGEASe5o
UPDATE: We have found an image of someone being taken into custody on Twitter that people are accusing of being the shooter. He is pictured above and an image of him at the protest can be found at https://twitter.com/ahnafkalam/status/1308951702410649602
UPDATE: We have updated the video below with footage of the shooting that shows the shooter in yellow running across the screen firing on the police from the crowd of mostly peaceful protesters. We can now conclude that this was obviously not a friendly fire incident. We are not sure if the shooter was a Black Lives Matter supporter or possibly a right wing agitator trying to provoke violence against protesters. We do not know his name at this time. We have called other protest related shooting self defense, but that is clearly not the case hear.
UPDATE: The website for the Louisville jail refused to connect whenever you try to view the inmate search page. Probably due to a lot of people trying to lookup mugshots of this guy to get a name.
UPDATE: This article has been updated now that the shooter has been identified as 26 year old Larynzo Johnson