911 audio reveals the immediate aftermath on the night Louisville police fatally shot 26-year-old Breonna Taylor during a raid of her home.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker told the 911 operator. “Somebody kicked in the door, and shot my girlfriend.”
Police said they raided Taylor’s home on March 13 because the subject of a drug investigation (who did not live on the premises) used her home to obtain packages. Authorities used this allegation to obtain a no-knock warrant, though they’ve claimed they knocked on Taylor’s door and said who they were. Officers said Walker opened fire after they entered. Police didn’t find drugs in the residence.
Walker was at first charged with attempted murder for shooting a police sergeant in the leg, but prosecutors recently announced they’re dropping the case.
In the audio, the 911 operator asked where Taylor was shot. An audibly distraught Walker said he didn’t know and his girlfriend was on the ground.
The operator attempted to get him to turn her over so he could see where she was shot.
“I’ve got to go,” Walker said.
During the criminal case, defense lawyer Rob Eggert said that police forced their way into the home without announcing their presence and fired at least 22 times. His client was startled awake by police, and believed that someone was breaking into the residence. In others words, Walker’s actions were in self-defense during a botched police raid.
Police spokesperson Sgt. Lamont Washington previously declined to comment on 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 Federal Bureau of Investigation is also looking into the shooting death of Taylor.
[Image courtesy of Attorney Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Taylor’s family]