Two officers shot during Kentucky protests

Two officers shot during Kentucky protests

Two police officers were shot and wounded late on Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky, during protests of a grand jury ruling decried by civil rights activists as a miscarriage of justice in the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor in March.

Ryan Brooks reports.

Two police officers were shot and wounded during late Wednesday protests in Louisville, Kentucky.

Gunshots rang out after dark, following a day mostly peaceful protests ignited by a grand jury decision over the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker.

Interim Chief of Police Robert Shroeder says one suspect is in custody after Wednesday's gunfire.

"About 8:30 tonight, our officers were called to the area at a large crowd and shots fired in the area.

As they were deploying to investigate what was going on at First and Broadway, shots rang out and two of our officers were shot.

Both of the officers are currently undergoing treatment at University Hospital.

One is alert and stable.

The other officer is undergoing surgery and stable." The grand jury concluded that two white officers would not be prosecuted in connection with the fatal police shooting of Taylor.

The 26-year-old was killed in front of her armed boyfriend shortly past midnight after three officers forced their way into her home with a search warrant.

The grand jury ruled Wednesday their use of force was justified.

Civil rights activists blasted the decision as a miscarriage of justice.

Protesters immediately took to the streets, they marched for hours through Kentucky's largest city, demonstrations that saw sporadic clashes with police in riot gear.

Then the protests wore on past a 9 p.m.

Curfew.

Local TV footage showed small fires set in the city's Jefferson Square Park.

And during a skirmish between heavily armed police and protesters, gunfire erupted.

A Reuters journalist on the scene heard the crack of gunshots from the crowd moments after police had fired pepper spray and "flash-bang" rounds at demonstrators.

Earlier in the day about a dozen people were arrested in one confrontation between hundreds of demonstrators and a group of law enforcement officers in the Highlands neighborhood just outside downtown Louisville.

Rallies of varying sizes protesting the outcome of the Louisville grand jury investigation also were held in several other cities, including New York, Washington, Atlanta, and Chicago.