Oprah gives up O Magazine cover to honor Breonna Taylor

For the first time in 20 years, Oprah has given up her O Magazine cover to honor Breonna Taylor who was killed by police.

Oprah says:

“Breonna Taylor. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter. Imagine if three unidentified men burst into your home while you were sleeping. And your partner fired a gun to protect you. And then mayhem. What I know for sure: We can’t be silent. We have to use whatever megaphone we have to cry for justice. And that is why Breonna Taylor is on the cover of O magazine. I cry for justice in her name.”

Breonna Taylor, 26, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police when they entered her home to serve a warrant, authorities said.

Taylor’s family has filed a lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police Department accusing three officers of wrongful death, excessive force and gross negligence.

Louisville Metro Police Department officials said officers engaged in the shooting after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot at them first. But the lawsuit alleges that police did not identify themselves and that Walker, a licensed gun owner, thought someone was breaking in.

Neither Walker nor Taylor had a criminal history of drugs or violence, the suit says. Taylor had been working on the front lines during the coronavirus pandemic as an EMT at emergency rooms at two hospitals, her family said.

“Breonna loves life and she loved to help people and she loved her family. She didn’t deserve what they did to her,” Tamika Palmer, her mother, told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan.