Man arrested over fatal shooting in Kentucky park at center of protests

[June 29, 2020]  (Reuters) - Police arrested a man over a weekend shooting that killed one person in a park in Louisville, Kentucky that has become a center for protests against the police killing of a Black woman in her home in March.

The suspect taken into custody had opened fire at a crowd in Jefferson Square Park late on Saturday.

He was wounded in the shooting himself and taken to a hospital in police custody, Assistant Police Chief Robert Schroeder told a press briefing on Sunday.

"The man has been participating in the protest since the beginning and he had been arrested a couple of times in the past several weeks," Schroeder said.

He said the suspect had been repeatedly asked by other people in the park to leave due to his disruptive behavior.

Police said on Saturday homicide detectives were investigating the shooting. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said he was saddened by the incident.

The park has been a focal point of protests against the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technicinan who was killed in a hail of gunfire when drug investigators burst into her home in Louisville on March 13.

Officers entered her apartment bearing a "no-knock" arrest warrant. One of the three officers involved in her shooting was fired last week.

Police cordon off the area after a fatal shooting at Jefferson Square Park, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., June 27, 2020 in this still image obtained from social media video. Protesters have camped out at the park to demonstrate against the police killing of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, in her home in March. Content filmed June 27, 2020. Maxwell Mitchell via REUTERS

Taylor's killing drew renewed attention after the May 25 death of George Floyd, an African-American man killed after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while detaining him in Minneapolis.

The two incidents and others have become a rallying cry in nationwide protests against police brutality and racial bias in the U.S. criminal justice system.

(Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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