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The
Oakland Police Department said late Monday it was looking into
the incident, although it had not identified any suspects or
motives. The statue was found smashed on Saturday, about two
weeks after it was installed.
Leo Carson, the artist who created the bust, told the media that
he considered the smashing of Taylor's statue "an act of racist
aggression aimed at suppressing the fight for Black freedom."
The ceramic bust depicted a smiling Taylor and was installed in
downtown Oakland near City Hall. On its base is a plaque that
reads "Say her name: Breonna Taylor."
Taylor, a Black emergency medical technician, was shot and
killed during a botched police raid of her apartment in
Louisville, Kentucky, early on March 13.
Taylor's boyfriend, who was with her when the police burst into
the home, fired once at what he said he believed were intruders.
Three police officers responded with 32 shots, six of which
struck Taylor, killing her.
The case came back to light as demonstrations against racism and
police brutality spread across the U.S. after the death in May
of George Floyd, a Black man was killed when a Minneapolis
police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
(This story has been refiled to fix typographical error in
Paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru. Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
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