Four current and former Louisville officers are facing federal charges in connection with the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor — including excessive force, falsifying information on the search warrant and staging a coverup, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday. Kelly Goodlett and Joshua Jaynes are accused of falsifying information on a search warrant before and after Taylor, 26, was killed in March 2020, sparking a wave of racial justice protests across the country. Garland said that the officers not only violated Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights but also knew the falsification would lead to a dangerous situation — one that “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.” The attorney general said Goodlett and Jaynes allegedly met in a garage after the killing and conspired to lie to investigators about the circumstances that led to it. Former police officer Brett Hankison is charged with willfully using unconstitutional force for firing 10 shots through Taylor’s patio door during the raid. Hankison faced three state charges of wanton endangerment for firing those shots without a clear target, but was acquitted at trial in March. The Justice Department and the FBI have long been probing the Taylor case for potential civil rights violations. In April 2021, Garland announced a “pattern or practice” probe of the Louisville police department to determine whether the agency had engaged in abuse of power and unlawful tactics. That investigation is ongoing. This story is developing and will be updated. Read more through the link in our bio.