At least three people were arrested near police headquarters in downtown San Diego during a protest calling for justice in the Breonna Taylor case.
The protest, involving hundreds of people in two separate groups, began about 7 p.m. Wednesday near the corner of 8th and B streets and moved along Broadway.
Around 10:15 p.m Wednesday, the San Diego Police Department declared the protest an unlawful assembly because of “acts of violence and vandalism … in front of (police) headquarters.
“Demonstrators are ordered to immediately disperse. If you do not do so you may be arrested,” the department tweeted. “There are several routes allowing free movement out of the area.”
A person in the crowd tried to lower flags outside the station and officers moved in. Moments later, a loud bang was heard, NBC7 reported.
Officers clashed with the demonstrators on at least two occasions and arrested at least three individuals, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. It was not immediately clear what crimes the arrestees were suspected of committing.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical worker, was shot and killed by Louisville police officers during a botched drug raid on her home in March. The warrant used to search her home was connected to a suspect who did not live there, and no drugs were found inside.
A grand jury in Louisville on Wednesday decided that no officers will face charges for Taylor’s death.
Prosecutors argued the two officers who fired at Taylor were justified in using force to protect themselves after they were shot at by Taylor’s boyfriend.
The officer who fired the fatal shot and another officer who fired his weapon at Taylor face no charges, but former Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Brett Hankison was indicted with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots that went through Taylor’s apartment and into an adjoining unit.
— City News Service
