Former Atlanta Chief of Police Erika Shields, who resigned after the Rayshard Brooks shooting, has been hired as the head of the Louisville Police Department.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer made the announcement Wednesday morning.
Shields resigned in June in wake of the Brooks shooting and protests. Brooks, 27, was shot and killed after a confrontation with police outside an Atlanta Wendy’s.
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We are announcing that Erika Shields, formerly Chief of Atlanta Police, will be the next Chief of @LMPD. Please join us. https://t.co/O2ARuSyuOx
— Mayor Greg Fischer (@louisvillemayor) January 6, 2021
Shields joined APD in 1995. Prior to being named chief, Shields served as a patrol officer, sergeant, lieutenant and major prior to her appointment to deputy chief. Former Mayor Kasim Reed appointed Shields to chief in 2016 following the retirement of George Turner.
[RELATED: Who is former Atlanta police chief Erika Shields?]
Shields takes over the Louisville police department which has been under investigation for the shooting of Breonna Taylor. Taylor, 26, was a Black woman shot and killed in March by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in her apartment.
[RELATED: Louisville police plan to fire 2 detectives connected to Breonna Taylor’s death]
Former Louisville chief Steve Conrad announced his retirement following Taylor’s death. He was unceremoniously fired by the mayor on June 1 after the fatal police shooting of David McAtee, a beloved Louisville barbecue spot owner who was killed as officers and Kentucky National Guard members tried to clear Black Lives Matter protesters from a nearby parking lot.
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