Donald Taylor

People

Donald Taylor

On August 3, 2025, Donald Taylor, a 32-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by Hollywood Police officers in Miramar, Florida. Police initially claimed they were "forced to fire" because Taylor was armed and refused to follow commands. However, security camera footage obtained by the family's attorneys contradicts this account, showing Taylor walking away from officers with his arms extended to his sides, appearing unarmed, when an officer fired a single shot into his back. Taylor had an active arrest warrant as a suspect in a string of armed robberies throughout Hollywood and Miramar in the days prior to the shooting. His family stated that he had "recently begun to suffer debilitating symptoms of a mental health crisis." The Whitehouse Law Group, a Black-owned Miami law firm representing the family, released the video and stated that "Donald Taylor posed NO THREAT to the officers or the public at the time of this shooting." The Hollywood Police Department has refused to release body camera footage, has not confirmed whether such footage exists, and has not identified the officer who fired the fatal shot. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is conducting an investigation. Police claimed a gun was recovered at the scene, but the video shows Taylor's hands empty and raised as he walked away. The family's attorneys emphasized that regardless of any alleged crimes, Taylor was entitled to due process and that "police should not, and do not have the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner."