- Mayor Greg Fischer of Louisville, Kentucky, fired his chief of police on Monday after officers were involved in the fatal shooting of a black man during the city’s protests for George Floyd.
- Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad had announced plans to retire at the end of the month after facing criticism for another officer-involved shooting.
- But the mayor said an immediate change of leadership was needed.
- David McAtee, 53, was fatally shot near his restaurant in western Louisville early Monday morning as protests turned violent. LMPD officers and the National Guard had both opened fire.
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The chief of police of Louisville, Kentucky, was fired on Monday after police officers were involved in the fatal shooting of a black man during protests in the city.
Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad had plans to retire at the end of June, but Mayor Greg Fischer said “an immediate change in leadership is required.”
“This type of institutional failure will not be tolerated,” Fischer told a Monday afternoon press conference, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
David McAtee, 53, was shot dead near his restaurant in western Louisville, YaYa’s BBQ, early Monday morning when protests turned violent in the area.
Officials said that they had been shot at first, before LMPD officers and the National Guard returned fire.
The incident is currently under investigation at the federal, state, and local levels.
McAtee's mother, Odessa Riley, said that her son had done nothing wrong, and had served officers at his restaurant.
"They killed him for no reason," she told CNN.
Conrad announced his retirement last month amid widespread criticism of his department for the March 13 killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. Taylor was killed when officers served a no-knock warrant on her apartment and got into a gunfight with her boyfriend.
Unrest in Louisville over Taylor's death intensified after the recent death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest last week.
