Two officers shot amid protests over Breonna Taylor grand jury announcement

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Two police officers were shot on Wednesday amid protests in Louisville in response to a grand jury's decision to indict just one of three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.

Interim Louisville Metro Police Department chief Robert Schroeder confirmed two officers were shot and a suspect was taken into custody.

Schroeder said the officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries and one was in surgery while the other was alert and in stable condition.

Protesters had gathered in Jefferson Square Park chanting Taylor's name as a large police presence occupied the area where a protest leader said there would be a march at 8 p.m., just one hour before a curfew was set to take effect, but were cleared out as officers appeared to deploy flashbangs, The Courier-Journal reported.

Demonstrations began almost immediately following the Wednesday afternoon announcement of the Jefferson County grand jury's indictment of former officer Brett Hankison on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

The charges were related to the firing of shots into the home next door and not Taylor's killing and the grand jury also declined to bring charges against Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove who were also involved in the shooting as they served a "no-knock" search warrant at Taylor's apartment on March 13 related to a narcotics investigation.

"It's a tragedy. This is an embarrassment and it's exactly why there have been protests for the last [119] days," pastor Tim Findley said. "This is a disappointing, hurtful, painful day in our city. What I just heard amounts to a slap on the wrist for him murdering, for them murdering Breonna Taylor."

Earlier in the day, a crowd of about 300 protesters marched from Jefferson Square Park toward Bardstown Road where police confronted them with pepper balls to stop them from moving any further.

The protest was eventually declared unlawful as police threatened to dispense chemical agents if the protesters did not disperse.

A total of 29 people were arrested during protests, including 13 at the Bardstown protest and 16 others downtown.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday called on protesters to refrain from violence.

"One thing I want to make clear, protesting makes a lot of sense it is clear people should be able to speak. But no violence, no violence," said Biden. "My heart goes out to Breonna Taylor's mom. The last thing she needs to see is violence in the streets. Protest peacefully, no violence."