The grand jury testimony released today detailed several accounts of what happened when police broke into Breonna Taylor’s home and fired several shots, striking and killing her. During the hearing, the officers said they announced themselves as cops, and the now-indicted officer claimed that Taylor’s boyfriend initially said she opened fire on the officers before her death, and then changed his story.
According to the Daily Mail, fired officer Brent Hankison, the only officer actually charged in the case, claimed that Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker initially said that Breonna had fired at cops when they broke down her door.
The grand jury heard an interview in which Hankison told investigators that Walker had told him” she was the one who shot at us” but later claimed that he was the one who opened fire. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Taylor’s neighbor also reportedly told investigators that police told her that “some drug-dealing girl shot an officer.”
While police were there to search for drugs on a” no-knock” warrant, no drugs were ever found in her apartment.
Elsewhere in the report, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly explained that cops “Banged on the door — no response. Banged on it again — no response. At that point, we started announcing ourselves,” adding that officers banged on the door “six or seven” times before they broke into Taylor’s apartment.
Mattingly said that they announced the “first couple of times” because they intended to give Taylor time to answer the door, CNN reports.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron said officers were justified in opening fire after Taylor’s boyfriend claimed he fired his gun at them, believing they were intruders, wounding Mattingly.
Hankison said in his interview that he believed the gunfire came from an AR-15 rifle. He was heard on radio calls saying one of his fellow officers had just been shot with an ‘AR.’ police later reported the weapon was a 9mm handgun.
Mattingly’s testimony also revealed that the officers believed Taylor was “probably there alone,” and that after not getting any response, they broke down her door and announced: “Police search warrant. Police search warrant.”
Mattingly claimed that a neighbor approached upon hearing the ruckus they were making and that “Brett [Hankison] was a little worked up. I remember at one point, because they kept exchanging while we were doing this. I remember looking at Brett and, saying ‘Brett, relax. Brett, just relax.'”
The sergeant then claimed that upon entry, he spotted a man and woman inside, about 20 feet away. The male was “in a stretched-out position with his hand on a gun, and as soon as I clear (the doorway), he fires a gun,” he said- maintaining that he only fired after he was struck by fire.
Meanwhile, Walker maintained he did not hear officers announce themselves and said he only fired at police because he feared they were intruders. Other neighbors of Taylor’s also claimed that police did not announce themselves. ⠀
Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who has been highly criticized for his handling of this case, handed over the testimony after taking two days to redact personal information and maintained his office presented “a thorough case” to the grand jury.
He handed over 15 hours of audio to Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith.
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“Our presentation followed the facts and the evidence, and the Grand Jury was given a complete picture of the events surrounding Ms. Taylor’s death on March 13th,” he added. “While it is unusual for a court to require the release of the recordings from Grand Jury proceedings, we complied with the order, rather than challenging it, so that the full truth can be heard,” Attorney General Cameron said.
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