Louisville police shoot at on-duty security officer during protests
Louisville KY June 21 2020
Louisville Police shot at a 23-year-old security guard patrolling the Hall of Justice Monday night, when he began filming a swarm of riot police tackling a man to the ground during a protest.
The video shows smoke, a bang, and a mark on the window.
“Oh shit, they shot at me,” he says in the video recording.
On Thursday, more than 16 hours after this article first published, Louisville Police Department confirmed an officer had shot at the security guard.
“After viewing the video from this incident, it has been determined that is was pepper ball that was used in this instance,” said police department spokesperson Dwight Mitchell.
The Jefferson resident, who asked for anonymity out of concerns for his employment, said being shot at changed how he viewed police and the protests.
“It was pretty eye-opening seeing how, in my opinion, how trigger-happy they are,” he told BuzzFeed news.
Protests have erupted in recent weeks in Louisville, Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor, 26, was killed when police officers raided her home as she slept and shot her eight times. Her death helped ignite Black Lives Matter protests around the country.
Louisville authorities have used extreme violence to try and stop protests, including earlier this month when police officers and the Kentucky National Guard shot into a crowd of protesters and killed beloved local barbecue chef David McAtee. Police also shot a reporter with pepper balls, a type of rubber bullet, while she was live on air.
But the security guard, who is Latino, said he had not been involved in any protests and described his politics as “pretty neutral.”
He had walked that section of the Hall of Justice a few hours earlier and it was quiet, so when he returned and saw protesters and riot police, he grabbed his phone and began recording.
“I was just curious and wanted to show my friends what was going on downtown,” he said. “I had no bad intention or anything.”
He said he was glad the window of the government building was strong enough to hold and stopped him from getting injured. It’s unclear what type of ammunition was used.
“It just scared me,” he said. “All of a sudden you just get shot at.”
The security guard said he immediately moved away from the window and stopped filming. “I didn’t want it to happen again,” he said.
The security guard said he did not contact authorities as he feared retaliation, but posted the video on Twitter, where it has been viewed over 3.3 million times.
“We have not received a complaint from anyone regarding this incident,” said Mitchell, the police department spokesperson. “If they choose, we encourage them to come forward to lodge a complaint with out Professional Standards Unit.”
But there’s one thing the security guard wants now: “Justice for Breonna Taylor,” he said.
