Three people were injured in a shooting Saturday during a protest over the death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky and more than two dozen people were arrested in Seattle after police declared a riot.
In Louisville, a self-described armed coalition of Black Americans was denouncing the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor when a gun discharged, injuring three people, authorities said. Taylor, 26, was killed by police in March during a raid at her home.
The three were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a statement. The victims were all members of the coalition, as was the person with the weapon, department officials said.
No arrests were made, but the shooting was under investigation.
“This is a tragic situation that could have been much worse,” said interim police Chief Rob SchroedeI in a statement. “I encourage anyone choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights to do so responsibly.”
The demonstrations were part of a thread of coast-to-coast protests that began after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers May 25. They’ve morphed into calls for defunding police and resisting the administration of President Donald Trump.
In Austin, Texas, as demonstrators marched nearby for Black Lives Matter, a person was killed in an evening shooting. Austin’s Emergency Medical Services Department tweeted that additional victims were being sought. The shooting was not immediately connected to the protest.
Austin police said on Twitter that the case was being treated as a homicide.
Earlier, as protesters marched on Interstate 225 in Austin, a vehicle went “through the protesters,” police said. No injuries were reported, and authorities were investigating.
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In Seattle, 25 demonstrators were arrested for allegedly assaulting officers, obstructing authorities and failing to disperse, the Seattle Police Department said. Demonstrators threw rocks, bottles and incendiary devices at officers, police said, and a device lobbed into a police station “exploded,” the department tweeted. No injuries were reported.
Some of the protesters gathered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood were opposed to the Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents to Seattle to protect federal buildings.
A local officer was hospitalized, the police department said, and two others were treated but returned to duty.
NBC Seattle affiliate KING 5 reported that multiple businesses in the neighborhood were damaged.
Police in Richmond, Virginia, said a city dump truck was set ablaze during a demonstration.
Protesters set a city dump truck ablaze outside RPD Headquarters. Unlawful Assembly has been declared. RPD officers must secure the area before firefighters can respond. pic.twitter.com/xzKkLO7sg8
— Richmond Police (@RichmondPolice) July 26, 2020
NBC News affiliate WWBT of Richmond said more than 200 protesters had marched to police headquarters.
In Los Angeles police declared a citywide tactical alert, which requires officers to stay at the ready beyond their shifts, as demonstrators amassed downtown and at least some allegedly broke into a federal detention center.
By late Saturday, Los Angeles police had arrested four people around federal buildings downtown.
A courthouse was set ablaze in Aurora, Colorado amid a demonstration there, police said. The fire was doused but some of the structure’s windows were broken, they said.
Several protesters were detained in Omaha, Nebraska, Saturday night, according to NBC affiliate WOWT.
In Portland, Oregon, the focus of Trump’s deployment of federal agents to quell protester violence, a suspect was taken into custody for an early morning stabbing during the protest, police said Saturday. He was identified Saturday night as Blake D. Hampe, 43, who was booked on suspicion of felony assault, authorities said.
The victim was hospitalized in unknown condition, according to the Portland Police Bureau.
Protests were also planned in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to the organization Refuse Fascism, which hoped to bring more attention to what it described in a statement as “a federal occupying army” in Portland.
Trump said this week that he sent federal agents to Portland to return the city to a peaceful state, but so far the presence of U.S. law enforcement has inspired more uprising.
He also said he was sending federal law enforcement resources to Chicago, which has been plagued by gang violence. He said other major U.S. cities could also see federal agents patrolling their streets.
