Louisville police officers shot and killed Katelyn Hall, a 28-year-old Black woman, while she was in the midst of a mental health crisis on March 27.
The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) released body camera footage and recordings of 911 calls from the event.
Hall’s family called 911 for help and reported that she had ingested cleaning products and cut her wrists. When LMPD officers arrived on scene, Hall was found to have locked herself in the bathroom of her apartment.
Firefighters arrived and knocked down the bathroom door. Hall then emerged from the bathroom with a broken piece of porcelain, believed to be from the toilet. It was at this time two of the responding officers, Robert Baker and Robert Gabbard, fired multiple shots at point blank range and murdered Katelyn Hall.
Both officers are currently on paid leave pending an internal investigation.
On April 4, dozens of people rallied in front of city hall to demand an end to police lynchings of Black people. Many in attendance pointed out that nothing has changed since the publication of a 2023 Department of Justice report on the LMPD’s conduct, launched after the 2020 murder of Breonna Taylor, which found that the department systematically discriminated against Black people and people with behavioral health disabilities, frequently employed excessive force, and repeatedly violated Louisville residents’ constitutional rights.
Hall’s murder occurred on nearly the same day that a federal judge dismissed charges against two officers involved in murdering Breonna Taylor.
Image: Katelyn Hall. Credit: Newcomer Cremations, Funerals, & Receptions.
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