March 13, 2020, is a day that Breonna Taylor’s family and friends will never forget. That’s the date 3 Louisville, Kentucky police officers burst into her apartment as part of an investigation into a drug dealing operation. At the time, Breonna was just 26 years old with her entire life in front of her. It’s so sad that on that date, at the hands of the police, her life was snuffed out. The officers had a “No knock” warrant, which gave them the right to search the young woman’s apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend was inside the apartment with her when the incident was unfolding. He says he never heard the police officers knock or announce themselves. Kenneth Walker says when he did hear something, he thought intruders had broken into the apartment and he fired a warning shot from his gun, hoping to make the “intruder(s) leave, but that was not to be the case. That one warning shot from Kenneth Walker’s gun got a quick response from the police who fired 32 rounds back in answer.
Somehow the boyfriend didn’t catch any of the bullets, but Breonna wasn’t so lucky. Six of the bullets found their way into her body as she stood behind her boyfriend. And after all of that, ironically, Breonna Taylor’s home wasn’t even searched. Odd, isn’t it? If the police were coming to her home to search for drug dealing that never happened, according to official reports.
The three Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers—Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove were the officers involved in the shooting.
Breonna’s boyfriend was charged with assault on a police officer and attempted murder, but about 12 months later, those charges were dropped. On June 23, 2020, the LMPD fired Hankison for blindly firing through the covered patio door and window of Taylor’s apartment. September 15, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor’s family $12 million and reform police practices. September 23, a state grand jury indicted Hankison on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment for endangering Taylor’s neighbors with his shots. Cosgrove was determined to have fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor. On October 2, 2020, recordings from the grand jury investigation into the shooting were released.
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