Breonna Taylor was killed in ‘botched police raid,’ attorney says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The lawyer for the family of a 26-year-old woman shot and killed in her own home said Tuesday that LMPD officers are to blame for a “botched police raid.”

Breonna Taylor, an EMT who worked for two local hospitals, was shot dead inside her apartment in the 3000 block of Springfield Drive back in March. LMPD officials said three officers went to the home on March 13 to serve a warrant. After they announced themselves and entered the apartment, they were met with gunfire from Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, detectives said.

Tuesday, the attorney now representing Taylor’s family, Ben Crump, shared his account of what happened that night. Crump represented the Trayvon Martin family during the high-profile, stand-your-ground case in Florida several years ago, and is now representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery, who was gunned down in Georgia back in February.

"There are witnesses who are her neighbors ... nobody heard the police announcing themselves,” Crump said. “This was a botched execution of a search warrant where they already had the person they were searching for in custody.”

Two months later, the outside of Taylor’s apartment still shows bullet holes from the deadly encounter. Her aunt, Bianca Austin, wore one of Taylor’s uniforms while speaking to WAVE 3 News on Tuesday.

“She had a lot of plans,” Austin said of her niece, who added that Taylor had dreams of becoming a nurse, buying a home and having children with Walker, her high school sweetheart.

Austin and another of Taylor’s aunts, Tahasha Holloway, said they want the three LMPD officers -- Brett Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly -- held accountable.

“If a regular person barged into the wrong home and shot Breonna, they would have been charged,” they agreed.

Taylor’s family has filed a civil lawsuit that states Walker thought someone was breaking into the apartment, and that’s why he fired back in self-defense. Official documents also showed neither Taylor nor Walker had a history of drugs or violence.

“Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, there is absolutely no reason Breonna Taylor should be dead,” Crump said. “Killed in a hail of bullets from your police officers."

Added Austin: ”Just to know that she died like that in the comfort of her own home by people who she worked alongside with every day. She worked alongside these people every day."

Walker was shot at least eight times. The lawsuit said officers fired through closed blinds, without any consideration for human life.

LMPD said it would not comment on a pending investigation.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer on Tuesday posted on his Facebook page that he has asked LMPD Chief Steve Conrad for an investigation into the case, which is starting to make national headlines:

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