Breonna Taylor's shooting was the result of a Louisville police department operation to clear out a block in western Louisville that was part of a major gentrification makeover, according to attorneys representing the slain 26-year-old's family.
Lawyers for Taylor's family allege in court documents filed in Jefferson Circuit Court Sunday that a police squad — named Place-Based Investigations — had "deliberately misled" narcotics detectives to target a home on Elliott Avenue, leading them to believe they were after some of the city's largest violent crime and drug rings.
The complaint — which amends an earlier lawsuit filed by Taylor's mother against the three Louisville officers who fired their weapons into Taylor's home — claims Taylor was caught up in a case that was less about a drug house on Elliott Avenue and more about speeding up the city's multi-million dollar Vision Russell development plan.
The Jefferson County property value administrator's website shows after police arrested Glover the second time, the city moved to purchase the property on Elliott Avenue.
The property's deed — signed June 5, which would have been Taylor's 27th birthday — shows Louisville and Jefferson County Landbank Authority bought the home for $1 in June.
The fair market value of the home, however, was $17,160, according to the PVA.
In a three-week span earlier this year, eight homes on Elliott Avenue were demolished by the city's contractor, the complaint alleges. Only nine homes total had been demolished on Elliott Avenue in the past 16 years combined, it says.
Fischer’s administration has been promoting “Vision Russell" since 2016 as a plan to stimulate affordable housing and economic growth in the West End and bridge a racial and economic gap that has been Louisville's defining divide for decades.
His top economic development official called the accusations “a gross mischaracterization of the project."
The complaint claims Breonna Taylor got wrapped up in a case that was less about a drug house and more about speeding up the city's development.
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