“I don’t know what’s happening. Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend,” Kenneth Walker said in the 911 call he made after police shot his girlfriend, Breonna Taylor, eight times.
Sam Aguiar, an attorney for Taylor’s family, released the audio and told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the call was “one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do as an attorney and as a person.” However, he also said he believed it offered contemporaneous proof that Walker didn’t know it was the police who were in his apartment.
Walker, who shot back after police entered the apartment, was arrested for the attempted homicide one of the officers he shot because, according to Aguiar, he thought they were intruders. Walker pleaded not guilty and was released for home incarceration due to coronavirus concerns; eventually, Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine dropped the charges against him on May 22.
Walker Was Originally Charged With Attempted Homicide, Then The Charges Were Dropped
Walker and Breonna Taylor were sleeping at her apartment when police arrived to serve a no-knock warrant, according to the Courier-Journal. Walker said he couldn’t hear who was on the other side and, according to his lawyer Rob Eggert, believed intruders were trying to break in. Walker shot once at the people entering and police responded with 22 shots, eight of which killed Taylor, a Louisville EMT.
Taylor was a full-time ER technician for the University of Louisville Jewish Hospital and she worked as needed for Norton Healthcare. On her Facebook page, she how much she loved for helping others. “Working in health care is so rewarding! It makes me so happy when I know I’ve made a difference in someone else’s life!” she said.
Although Eggert said Walker thought he was shooting at intruders, Walker actually shot Officer Jonathan Mattingly who was serving the warrant with two other police officers — Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove. At the press conference, Wine said the bullet pierced Mattingly’s femoral artery. Shortly after the incident, Walker was charged with the attempted murder of a police officer.
Walker was released and put under house arrest, but still faced the charges. However, new evidence regarding the no-knock warrant and some of the officers’ history of conduct led to calls for a more thorough investigation. On May 22, Wine announced that the commonwealth planned on changing course.
Sam Aguiar, a lawyer for Taylor’s family, told WDRB that he believed the incident was a case of misidentification and that he believed officers were looking for someone else connected to a different raid.
“Something went terribly wrong,” he said. “This was clearly a botched execution of a warrant.”
Here Is What Took Place On the Call
“I don’t know what’s happening. Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend,” Walker says.
He gives the apartment address before uttering “my God,” his voice desperate.
The dispatcher asks how old she is and he says 26. The dispatcher then asks where his girlfriend has been shot and he says, “She’s on the ground right now, I don’t know.”
The dispatcher asks if she is alert and able to talk to him. Taylor says no, before calling her name, “Bree!”
Walker begins to sob and says, “Please ….. Help.”
The dispatcher asks for his name, which he provides. The dispatcher confirms Taylor’s age and the address again before once again asking if he can tell where she’s been shot.
The dispatcher also asks again if Taylor is alert and able to speak to him and he says, “No.”
Multiple times during the call, Walker can be heard crying, breathing and saying “Oh my God.”
The dispatcher asks him to turn her over before the call disconnects.
An attempted call back just leads to voicemail.
According to police interviews that Wine released, Walker made told police that he had made three calls immediately after the shooting: the first to his mother, who told him to call 911, the next to 911 and a third to Taylor’s mother, the Courier-Journal reported.
Local public officials, the Courier-Journal reported, said the city should have released the tape sooner and Gov. Andy Beshear said he thinks that the flaws of no-knock warrants should be examined. A Metro Council will consider a bill that could restrict the use of no-knock warrant.
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