Education

Bellarmine University Cancels Classes After Breonna Taylor Case Announcement

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Bellarmine University cancelled classes after the announcement one in three officers involved in the shooting incident was indicted, but none were charged for killing Breonna Taylor, according to university Twitter posts.

The Louisville school determined to not hold classes Wednesday and Thursday “in consultation with faculty and student leadership,” according to a President Susan M. Donovan statement posted on Twitter.

“Breonna Taylor’s death touches us all, and it reminds us that as a society and as a university we have so much work to do to end systemic racism and move toward justice,” Donovan said in the statement, according to the Twitter post.

Former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Brett Hankison was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in the incident, according to the Courier Journal. Hankinson and the two other officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove were not charged for Taylor’s killing.

Jurors said Hankison fired multiple bullets outside of Taylor’s apartment and the bullets went into the next unit when a man, a child and pregnant woman were at home, according to the Courier Journal.

Taylor was fatally shot in March when officers went into her apartment after they got a “no knock” search warrant when doing a narcotics investigation, according to another Courier Journal report. Taylor’s boyfriend shot once in the apartment and afterwards said he had no knowledge officers were at the entrance to her apartment.

Bellarmine’s response to the Breonna Taylor decision: pic.twitter.com/1Lt8cTC0Ln

— Bellarmine University???? (@bellarmineU) September 23, 2020

Donovan’s statement posted on Twitter said: “If you choose to protest, please do so as safely as possible using proper PPE (i.e., masks, gloves), following social distancing guidelines, and cleaning your hands as often as possible to curb the spread of COVID-19.”

The statement posted on Twitter gave additional information for counseling in case students need it and provided other resource links that included counseling and campus ministry.

“As we work together on these and other measures, I urge you to continue to channel your feelings into constructive action and I urge you to not lose hope. Not since the 1960s has our country seen such activism for racial justice. We must continue to press for reform and the end of inequality,” Donovan’s statement said, according to the Twitter post.