Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT worker in Louisville, Kentucky, who dedicated her life to helping others live was shot and killed by police in March when officers executed a search warrant at her home.
Taylor, who family and friends describe her as kind, hardworking and honest, had worked at two area hospitals and aspired to further her career in health care.
As an EMT, she responded to 911 calls for emergency medical assistance, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or bandaging a wound. She also assessed patient's conditions and determined various courses of treatment. She provided first-aid treatment and life support care to sick or injured patients.
"She had a whole plan on becoming a nurse and buying a house and then starting a family. Breonna had her head on straight, and she was a very decent person," her mother, Tamika Palmer said. "She didn't deserve this. She wasn't that type of person."
Shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020, Louisville police entered the apartment of Breonna Taylor and Kenneth Walker using a battering ram to force open the door. The police were investigating two men they believed were selling drugs at a home far from the apartment. The Taylor/Walker home was included in a signed "no-knock" search warrant because of a claim that one of the men used it to receive packages. The suspected drug dealer had allegedly been seen walking into Taylor's apartment one January afternoon with a USPS package before leaving and driving to a known drug house, and the warrant claimed that a US Postal Inspector confirmed that the man had been receiving packages at the apartment. Postal Inspector Tony Gooden has said that he never spoke to LMPD about this issue and would not have been able to supply that information anyway. Warrants such as these have become commonplace during the War on Drugs, as have multiple instances of stray bullets hitting unintended targets and innocent people being killed and wounded.
Despite the "no-knock" warrant allowing officers not to announce themselves while entering, Louisville police claimed they announced themselves while entering the home after knocking several times and saying they were Louisville police officers with a search warrant. Neighbors and Taylor's family dispute this claim, saying there was no announcement and that Walker and Taylor believed someone was breaking in, causing Walker to act in self-defense. Walker said in his police interrogation that Taylor yelled multiple times, "Who is it?" after hearing a loud bang at the door, but received no answer, and that he had armed himself as they had heard no response.
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Walker is a licensed firearm carrier. He then shot first, striking a police officer in the leg; in response, the officers opened fire with more than 20 rounds, hitting objects in the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, and both bedrooms. Taylor was shot at least eight times and died. Walker was arrested and charged with attempted murder on a police officer and assault, having allegedly shot one officer. The officer underwent surgery, according to the Courier-Journal. According to anonymous sources who spoke to...
... WAVE3 News, one of the three officers allegedly fired blindly from the exterior of the residence, through a window with closed blinds and curtains; the sources said they do not believe Taylor was struck by any of the bullets fired by the officer who was outside.
The officers involved — Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove — have been placed on administrative reassignment, pending the outcome of the investigation.
On May 15, Taylor's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit. It states that Taylor and Walker were sleeping in their bedroom before the incident happened, and that the police officers were in unmarked vehicles. None of the officers were wearing body cameras, as all three were plainclothes narcotics officers. Taylor and Walker thought their home had been broken into by criminals and that "they were in significant, imminent danger." The lawsuit alleges that "the officers then entered Breonna's home without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers. The Defendants then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life."
The family's lawsuit claims that Louisville police were searching for a suspect named Jamarcus Glover, who is facing drug and gun charges, and had already detained Glover at his home before the execution of the warrant that led to Taylor's death. Glover reportedly lives more than 10 miles from Taylor's home. No drugs were found in Taylor's home.
"Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding her death, the department has not provided any answers regarding the facts and circumstances of how this tragedy occurred, nor have they taken responsibility for her senseless killing," Crump said in a statement.
On May 21, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Louisville office announced it had opened an investigation.[27] Robert Brown, special agent in charge for the office, said, "The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence and will ensure that the investigation is conducted in a fair, thorough and impartial manner."
