A man has just been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a protester in Lousiville, Kentucky, on Saturday night, the Daily Mail reports.
Twenty-three-year-old Steven Lopez is reportedly facing charges of murder and of wanton endangerment.
Shots fired
According to the Daily Mail, the incident took place during a protest that was being held in Louisville over the death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT whom police officers fatally shot in March while executing a “no-knock” search warrant, as The New York Times reported.
According to the Times, police had obtained a warrant to search Taylor’s apartment in connection with a drug investigation. After officers made entry, a brief exchange with Taylor’s boyfriend ended with him opening fire, the Times noted.
Police reportedly shot back, hitting Taylor at least eight times and killing her. The Times reported that “no drugs were found in the apartment.”
A separate report from the Times indicated that the Saturday protest over Taylor’s death remained peaceful until around 9 p.m., when a gunman opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators in Jefferson Square Park.
One individual was shot and killed: 27-year-old Tyler Gerth, a photographer who was documenting the unrest, according to the Times.
“Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville said that Mr. Lopez had shot no one else on Saturday aside from Mr. Gerth,” the Times further reported.
Causing trouble
Police later took Lopez, who was shot by protesters who had returned fire, into custody. His swift capture may have had to do with his reputation; according to the Daily Mail, Lopez was known to both police and protesters as someone who had caused trouble at previous demonstrations.
The Louisville Courier Journal reported that several of its reporters had seen Lopez “among the crowd in recent days, and a speaker at a Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression press conference Sunday morning said he’d been among the crowd for the past 12 days at least.”
The Courier Journal added:
Court records show [Lopez] was one of 17 protesters arrested on June 17, and a Courier Journal photographer captured his arrest that day in a photo. He was charged that morning with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, harassment, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The 23-year-old was said to be “in possession of a handgun ‘with two full mags of ammo’ at the time” of his previous arrest, the Courier Journal reported.
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