On March 13, 2020, officers were executing a search warrant in Louisville, Kentucky as part of a narcotics investigation. They had been issued a "no-knock" warrant, which allows officers to enter a home without announcing themselves or a reason for their entry. This was the home of Breonna Taylor, a young EMT, where she was fast asleep with her boyfriend. A man involved in drug trafficking had been shipping drugs to this address to avoid detection at his own home and listed his home address as Breonna's despite the fact he did not live there. Startled and thinking that their home was being invaded because they did not know these were officers with a warrant, they armed themselves and confronted the officers. This lead to Breonna being shot three times and killed. She had no criminal record and no involvement in the case.

A day earlier, another set of officers received a "no-knock" warrant and invaded the house of 21 year old Duncan Lemp of Silver Spring, Maryland. Again, thinking that these were not officers but dangerous criminal invaders, police say he confronted them. Lemp was shot and killed in his own home, his girlfriend also being injured. However, his girlfriend states that they were sleeping in bed when the shooting began. Despite having no criminal record, officers claim that they were there to confiscate firearms Lemp was not allowed to have for undisclosed reasons. 

Many other innocent people, like Breonna, were killed in no-knock warrant raids at wrong addresses. A 7-year-old Detroit girl named Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed in a similar raid in 2019, ironically during the search for the murderer of 17-year-old Je'rean Blake. The city of Detroit ended up settling with the family for millions.

68-year-old Eurie Stamps was also killed in a similar raid where police were looking for two young men who had sold drugs to an uncover officer; they invaded a home after already having arrested the suspect who lived there. Despite many people being charged for shooting officers in these misunderstandings, the officer who killed Stamps was not charged.

It's been reported that from 2010 to 2016 alone, at least 81 civilians and 13 law enforcement officers have been killed from "no-knock" warrant raids of this kind with many others being wounded.

It's time for change in America. Police not announcing themselves in any form of raid is asking for a fatal misunderstanding on either side. It isn't fair to civilians, police officers, or their families to allow this practice to continue. We also must address negligence and incompetence in raid executions, extended training, and required release of body-cam footage to allow for fair trials that put justice first.