LEXINGTON, Ky. – A group led and organized by students at the University of Kentucky gathered for the third-straight night on Friday to host a vigil in response to the decision in the Breonna Taylor Case.


What You Need To Know

  • Aim is to offer forum to speak out

  • Student-led event takes place every night for 26 nights

  • First two nights were followed by protest

  • Created in response to grand jury decision

A Jefferson County grand jury on Wednesday returned three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment against one of the three police officers involved in a shooting that resulted in Taylor’s death. Those charges, against former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Brett Hankison, were unrelated to Taylor’s death.

“We are doing this every night for 26 nights; one night for every year of Breonna’s life,” said one of the group’s co-organizers, who wished to remain anonymous. 

The group attending the vigil, which took place across from Memorial Coliseum on the Avenue of Champions, was comprised of about two-dozen students and non-students. One student attending was Somerset native Jack Stockton, a sophomore human health sciences major at UK.

“It’s infuriating,” he said. “Everything that happened shouldn’t have happened. Breonna Taylor should be alive today, and since she’s not, the cops should be arrested for killing her.”

The past two nights the vigil ended with a protest through downtown Lexington, which is something Stockton said he has bever been part of, but felt compelled after everything that has unfolded since Taylor was killed on March 13.

“It makes it difficult to trust cops,” he said. “They are supposed to protect us, but instead we should be afraid of them.” 

After Thursday’s vigil, four people were arrested during a protest, but the vigil’s co-organizer said none of them were not affiliated with the student-led group from UK.