Hearing held for former detective who shot Breonna Taylor

(CNN) - The former Louisville Metro Police officer who fired the fatal shot into Breonna Taylor’s apartment during the March 2020 attempted raid that left her dead is fighting to get his job back.

The Louisville Metro Police Department relieved Myles Cosgrove from duty because he fired into the apartment 16 times without properly identifying a target.

Now, Cosgrove is going before the Louisville Police Merit board to appeal his termination.

In the hearing, the former detective explained his version of what happened the night Taylor was killed.

“I started shooting as soon as I saw the flash almost simultaneously it’s hard to describe something that happens in the blink of an eye. I see the gunshot and I returned fire,” Cosgrove said.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a single shot at the door as officers came to apprehend him, striking one of the patrolmen.

In his testimony, Cosgrove expressed he saw a human silhouette and a muzzle flash and that’s what he was trying to hit.

Instead, Taylor was killed in the shooting and Walker was not hit.

Cosgrove told the board that he still has a hard time dealing with that fact.

When asked if he regret shooting Taylor he said, “Of course I do. It’s horrible. It’s made me question faith. It’s powerful to have taken a life and to have to live with that. I mean it’s not, I mean I can’t explain to you how regretful I am and how much grief it has caused me.”

Cosgrove has repeatedly said he thought he fired four shots not 16 into Taylor’s apartment but does not deny that is how many he fired just that he didn’t realize it at the time.

The Louisville Police Merit Board will hear an additional testimony on Wednesday.

If the board does not reinstate Cosgrove, he can try again by going to court.