Court records show how police ended up raiding the home of shooting victim Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky. Authorities suggested that the actual subject of their narcotics investigation was using her residence to get mail, and store drugs and money, according to records obtained by USA Today.
That suspect, Jamarcus Glover, picked up a “suspected USPS package” from her apartment in January, then drove to a “known drug house,” Detective Joshua Jaynes wrote in an affidavit. A U.S. postal investigator confirmed that Glove had been getting packages at Taylor’s home, the investigator wrote.
Tayor, an EMT, was shot eight times and killed by police while at home with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker on March 13. Walker had opened fire first, injuring a sergeant in the leg. He’s been charged with attempted murder. His lawyer has argued this was a botched police raid. Lawyer Rob Eggert said that police forced their way into the home without announcing their presence and opened fire at least 22 times. His client was startled awake by police, and believed that someone was breaking into the residence. In others words, his actions were in self-defense.
“Had Breonna Taylor been killed by anyone except police, the person or persons responsible for her death would have been charged with a homicide,” he said.
Police had claimed that they knocked on Taylor’s door several times, and said who they were. Attorneys for Taylor’s family has joined in saying this is all law enforcement’s fault. They are suing, claiming that neighbors said cops didn’t identify themselves or knock. Relatives have dismissed the idea that Taylor was involved in drug trafficking.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Lamont Washington previously declined to comment Walker’s and Taylor’s story when reached by Law&Crime, saying it “it would be inappropriate for us to comment beyond what we already have said immediately following the incident.”
The newly reported records show that the warrant was “no-knock,” with police suggesting that they needed it because “these drug traffickers have a history” of trying to destroy evidence, they have a history of running from law enforcement, and cameras at the spot would’ve tipped them off about the detectives approaching. There were no drugs found in the apartment, and neither Taylor, nor Walker had a criminal history, let along drug convictions, according to USA Today.
There’s no body cam footage of the raid: officers with the Criminal Interdiction Division, who executed the search warrant, don’t wear cameras, police chief Steve Conrad said.
[Image via spokespeople for Benjamin Crump]
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