As protests and calls for action in the Black Lives Matter movement continue around the world, celebrities are urging their fans and followers to seek justice for Breonna Taylor.
The 26-year-old EMT died after being shot by police during a "no-knock" raid at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13; however, none of the officers involved have been charged or fired for their roles in her death.
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A major group of female celebrities -- including Jada Pinkett Smith, Cardi B, Gabrielle Union, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington, Lena Waithe, Alicia Keys, Ellen DeGeneres, Tamika D. Mallory, Brené Brown, Ali Wong and more -- came together this week to present a PSA, which was organized by social justice group Until Freedom and features a heartbreaking interview with Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, and a call to action to get involved in seeking justice.
At the top of the clip -- which Keys helped spearhead to bring attention to the case -- each celeb asks, "Do you know what happened to Breonna Taylor?" Text on the screen, and Palmer's description of events, then answer that question.
"Three officers on the Louisville Metro Police Department used a battering ram to knock down her door. They fired 22 times," Palmer recounts. "Eight of those bullets landed in the body of the most essential worker I will ever know."
"Bre was murdered by the Louisville Metro Police Department, and after they killed her, they asked me if she had any enemies," she continues. "[I said,] ‘No. Absolutely not.'"
On the night of Taylor's death, three officers -- identified in the official incident report released Wednesday as Sgt. Jon Mattingly, 47, Myles Cosgrove, 42, and Brett Hankison, 44 -- entered Taylor's home with a warrant to search for illegal drugs. According to a wrongful death suit filed by Taylor's family, no drugs were found.
Department officials have claimed that officers knocked on the door and announced themselves but were "immediately met by gunfire" from Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. However, a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her family claims that police didn't identify themselves, and that Walker, a licensed gun owner, thought someone was trying to break in.
"Their stories started coming out differently and people started learning the truth of what was happening and the things that went wrong that night," Palmer says in the video. "Now the whole city is mad. Now the whole world is mad. Breonna should not be dead. Some days I feel like I can't breathe without her. This should never happen to another family. I am Breonna Taylor's mother. Say her name."
The video ends with a call to action from Until Freedom's Tamika Mallory, who urges viewers to call Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron and demand the firing and charging of Mattingly, Cosgrove and Hankison, in addition to pushing for the conclusion of the investigation into Taylor's death and urging Louisville residents to vote to end no-knock warrants.
Louisville police released the nearly blank incident report from the night of Taylor's death on Wednesday, nearly three months after the shooting. The report includes only the time, date, case number and the victim's name, and, despite the fact that the 26-year-old EMT was shot at least eight times during the no-knock search, lists Taylor's injuries as "none."
Fischer responded to the report, saying: "It's issues like these that erode public confidence in Louisville's police department, and its ability to do its job." He also apologized to Taylor's family for causing them further pain, but has said that he cannot currently fire the officers involved. Per CBS News affiliate WLKY, the contract between the Fraternal Order of Police and the city stipulates that the officers cannot be fired before the investigation into Taylor's death is complete.
See more in the video below.
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