Lakers want justice for Breonna Taylor, wear caps to keep focus on her case

The Los Angeles Lakers asked justice for Breonna Taylor before Game 1 of the series against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Per ESPN, Each cap had “Make America Great Again” stitched in white letters, just like the one President Donald Trump often wears; but the words “Great Again” were crossed out, and the message “Arrest The Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor” was printed below them.

“You know, this is something that we continue to put our foot on the gas, continue to pressure,” LeBron James said after the Lakers’ 100-93 loss. “You know, the situation that’s going on in Louisville, Kentucky. An innocent woman being killed in Breonna Taylor, a woman who had a bright future and her future was taken away from her. And there’s been no arrests. There’s been no justice. Not only for her, but for her family. And we want to continue to shed light on that situation, because it’s just unjust, and that’s what it’s about.”

Per Wikipedia, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove on March 13, 2020. Three plainclothes LMPD officers executing a no-knock search warrant entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Gunfire was exchanged between Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker and the officers. Walker said that he believed that the officers were intruders. The LMPD officers fired over twenty shots. Taylor was shot eight times[1] and LMPD Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly was injured by gunfire. Another police officer and an LMPD lieutenant were on the scene when the warrant was executed.

The primary targets of the LMPD investigation were Jamarcus Glover and Adrian Walker, who were suspected of selling controlled substances from a drug house more than 10 miles away. Glover had a prior relationship with Taylor. The search warrant included Taylor’s residence because it was suspected that Glover received packages containing drugs at Taylor’s apartment and because a car registered to Taylor had been seen parked on several occasions in front of Glover’s house. No drugs were found in the apartment.

Walker was licensed to carry a firearm and fired first, injuring a law enforcement officer, whereupon police returned fire into the apartment with more than 20 rounds. According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the police by the Taylor family’s attorney, the officers, who entered Taylor’s home without knocking or announcing a search warrant, opened fire “with a total disregard for the value of human life.”