Breonna Taylor killing: A timeline of the police raid and its aftermath

By Theresa Waldrop, CNN

A police officer concerned in a raid which led to the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020 is to be tried in court docket this week.

Brett Hankison is the one officer of three within the incident who was charged with a criminal offense, although his fees aren’t associated to Taylor’s dying: He faces three counts of wanton endangerment after allegedly capturing blindly into an occupied condo subsequent door to Taylor’s. Hankison has pleaded not responsible.

The trial needed to be pushed back from spring of 2021 due to a case backlog brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The dying of 26-year-old Taylor, an emergency medical technician, together with that of George Floyd and others, sparked nationwide protests resulting in adjustments in policing coverage and legal guidelines.

Right here’s a take a look at the raid, Taylor’s dying and its aftermath.

The botched raid

On March 12, 2020, a Jefferson County Circuit Courtroom choose authorized 5 search warrants for places linked to Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, a convicted felon suspected of supplying an area drug home. A kind of places was Taylor’s residence.

Within the early hours of March 13, Hankison and the opposite officers carried out the no-knock warrant at Taylor’s condo. Taylor was in mattress together with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, when the officers battered down the entrance door.

They yelled to ask who was on the door however obtained no response, Walker said afterward. Pondering they have been intruders, Walker grabbed a gun he legally owned and fired a shot when the officers broke by way of the door.

That triggered a volley of fireplace from the officers. Taylor, who was standing in a hallway with Walker, was shot eight instances. Walker was not injured.

“Anyone kicked within the door and shot my girlfriend,” Walker mentioned in a 911 name.

Hankison had been standing outdoors the condo and is accused of blindly firing by way of a door and a window. His bullets entered a neighboring condo, the place a pregnant girl, a person and a baby have been dwelling, in line with the state lawyer normal.

Walker was at first charged with tried homicide of a police officer and first-degree assault — Detective Myles Cosgrove was shot within the leg — however prosecutors later determined to drop the fees.

Not one of the cops have been sporting physique cameras, and there’s no video of the evening Taylor bled to dying in her hallway.

Hankison was fired from the police division in late June 2020.

The 2 different officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, weren’t indicted. Kentucky Legal professional Normal Daniel Cameron has mentioned they have been justified in capturing in self-defense, as a result of Taylor’s boyfriend fired first.

No medication have been discovered within the condo, and Taylor’s household and their lawyer have maintained she was not concerned in her ex-boyfriend’s alleged drug offers.

The protests

Taylor’s dying at first went largely unnoticed outdoors Louisville. CNN lined the story for the first time on May 13, 2020, about two weeks earlier than George Floyd died.

By the top of Could, Walker’s distressed 911 name from the evening Taylor died had been launched, and George Floyd had died days earlier by the hands of police in Minneapolis. Protests In Louisville turned violent, with gunfire erupting throughout protests. Seven folks have been shot downtown in a single day Could 28. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer mentioned the pictures have been fired from inside the crowd, not from the police.

In July, protesters marched to Kentucky Legal professional Normal Daniel Cameron’s entrance garden, and 87 folks have been arrested for legal trespass, amongst different fees.

In September, protests started to happen nightly in Louisville after a grand jury didn’t cost the opposite cops concerned in Taylor’s dying, indicting solely Hankison.

By then, Taylor’s identify was recognized nationally and past, simply as George Floyd’s was, and her dying was a central a part of the protests that rocked the nation all through a lot of 2020.

Celebrities took up the topic of Taylor’s dying, together with NBA star LeBron James and Oprah Winfrey, who put Taylor on the quilt of her journal.

The aftermath

These protests sparked a motion demanding a change in policing and even looking for to defund police departments.

Police and witnesses gave conflicting studies on whether or not the officers introduced themselves earlier than battering down Taylor’s door, however her dying drew consideration to no-knock search warrants.

In Louisville, the controversy led to the passing of “Breonna’s Regulation” in June 2020, which bans such warrants and requires officers to put on physique cameras when finishing up search warrants.

Nearly a yr later, in April 2021, the Kentucky state legislature handed a invoice setting restrictions on no-knock warrants however didn’t outlaw them outright.

In June 2020, the Louisville police chief was fired after it got here to mild officers concerned in a deadly capturing throughout a protest weren’t sporting physique cameras.

In September 2020, the town of Louisville agreed to pay a historic $12 million in a settlement with Taylor’s family. It included an settlement for the town to introduce police reforms.

The settlement stipulated the town would set up a housing credit score program as an incentive for officers to stay within the areas they serve, use social staff to supply help on sure police runs and require commanders to evaluation and approve search warrants earlier than looking for judicial approval, amongst different adjustments.

“Justice for Breonna means that we’ll proceed to save lots of lives in her honor,” Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mom, mentioned on the time.

“No amount of cash accomplishes that, however the police reform measures that we have been in a position to get handed as part of this settlement imply a lot extra to my household, our group, and to Breonna’s legacy.”

In late June 2020, greater than three months after Taylor’s dying, Hankison was fired.

Detective Cosgrove was fired in January 2021 to be used of lethal power for firing 16 rounds into Taylor’s dwelling and failing to activate his physique digicam, in line with a duplicate of his termination letter. Sgt. Mattingly retired in April 2021.

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CNN’s Eric Levinson, Christina Carrega, Elizabeth Joseph, Scott Glover, Collette Richards, Curt Devine and Drew Griffin contributed to this report.