The Louisville Metro Police Department has released the findings from its internal investigation into the case of Breonna Taylor's death. The investigation, which was carried out by LMPD's Public Integrity Unit, has 4,470 pages of investigative reports, interviews, and evidence reports, as well as hundreds of photos, 251 videos, 148 of which are interviews, and 57 are from body cameras.
Around 12:40 a.m. on March 13, Breonna Taylor was fatally shot by the Louisville Metro Police Department officers after they executed a "no-knock warrant," and forced entry into her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky. Officers said that they announced themselves as police before entering because they considered the operation to be low-risk. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker said he did not hear any announcement, and mistakenly believed the cops to be home invaders.
Walker fired a shot, hitting officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. Investigators claim that police returned fire, and 32 rounds were shot into the apartment. Six rounds struck Taylor, killing her quickly.
The files released by LMPD include hundreds of photos, including over 1,200 images taken from the bullet-ridden apartment that features a shattered sliding glass door, and shell casings strewn on the ground near the front door.
There are photos of the blood-soaked wallet and pants of Mattingly, who was struck in his femoral artery and required emergency surgery. There are photos of Walker's Glock 9mm gun that was recovered under the bed inside the apartment. Walker was a licensed gun owner in Kentucky.
The report includes transcripts of video interviews from Kenneth Walker, who told investigators than he and Taylor were "scared to death" when they heard banging on the apartment door. He feared it was Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
There are interviews with LMPD officers involved with the Breonna Taylor case, including Detective Myles Cosgrove, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, and Detective Brett Hankison, who fired their weapons into the apartment. Hankinson was fired from the LMPD in June after being accused of "wantonly and blindly" firing 10 rounds into Taylor's apartment "without supporting facts" that his "deadly force was directed at a person."
In an interview with authorities, Mattingly claimed that the raid team knocked on Taylor's door six or seven times, and yelled, "Police, search warrant!" He estimated that the team knocked for about 45 seconds to a minute. After no response, they used a battering ram to breach the door.
"As soon as I cleared it, I'm face on, about probably 20 feet away right down the hallway," Mattingly said. "There's a bedroom door on the right and there's a - the male and the female."
Mattingly claimed there was a man in a "stretched out position with his hands, with a gun."
"And as soon as I clear, he fires - boom," he said. "My mind's going, this ain't right. You know, something's off here. Because all of the doors I've made entry and I've never seen this."
"Soon as the shot hit, I could feel heat in my leg. And so I just returned fire," Mattingly explained.
It also includes interviews with detectives Tony James, Michael Campbell, Michael Nobles, and Joshua Jaynes, who sought the warrant at Breonna's address.
Jaynes claimed that Glover was receiving "suspicious" mail at Taylor's apartment, which was allegedly "verified through a postal inspector." On May 19, he admitted that he didn't have evidence that the parcels Glover was receiving at her home were suspicious. Instead, Jaynes asked Mattingly to verify the deliveries. According to a report by the Public Integrity Unit reported by the Daily Mail, Mattingly told Jaynes that "Glover was not receiving suspicious packages at the address."
Jaynes claimed that he had a feeling that the packages were suspicious through his "training and experience." Jaynes admitted that he "could have worded it a little bit differently there." He insisted that he was not trying to mislead the judge, who signed the warrant.
"It was just in my opinion, that when I reach out to [Mattingly], the end-all-be-all was gonna be from a US Postal Inspector Office or the post office," Jaynes.
Jaynes was placed on administrative reassignment after the shooting. No drugs were found at Taylor's home.
There are interviews with Shively Police Department officers, who reportedly told LMPD officers that Taylor was not getting packages for Glover delivered to her apartment.
There are also interviews with S.W.A.T. officers that arrived on the scene, including Lt. Dale Massey, who described the execution of the warrant as an "egregious act."
Sgt. Michael Burns told investigators that Jaynes never mentioned that the LMPD was conducting a raid and the S.W.A.T. team was unaware of the raid. "(That warrant) was mentioned in our brief, but it made it seem like it was gonna be down the road and it was a low-risk search warrant," Burns said.
A key witness who police claim heard officers announce their presence at Taylor's apartment, but the neighbor said the exact opposite in his initial interview, according to The Courier-Journal.
Taylor's autopsy report showed that one bullet likely killed the 26-year-old after it struck her pulmonary artery and severely damaged one of her lungs.
Also in the investigation, there is a Kentucky State Police ballistics report, which did not confirm or deny that Walker's gun was the weapon used to shoot the officer.
A search of Walker's cell phone "found numerous conversations about drug trafficking," the investigation discovered, according to the Daily Mail.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said, "I urge all to be sensitive that these files contain information and images that are traumatic and painful."
Taylor's death at the hands of police has ignited anti-police brutality protests nationwide since the early summer.