On June 19, Mayor Greg Fischer announced that Louisville Metro Police is moving to fire Brett Hankison. He was one of the three police officers who fired weapons at the apartment of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020, under a no-knock warrant. The incident killed Taylor.
Officer finally fired months after the shooting
Hankison is accused by Robert Schroeder, the department's interim chief, of blindly firing 10 rounds into Breonna Taylor's apartment. Schroeder wrote a letter to Hankison on June 19 and stated that he finds his conduct a shock to the conscience. He also laid out Hankison's charges against him and said that he is alarmed and stunned that Hankison used deadly force.
Hankison is accused of violating the policies of the department regarding the use of deadly force. Schroeder said he received the investigation into Taylor's case on June 16 and he stated that Hankison has a history of using deadly force because he was disciplined for it in 2019.
Aside from the letter, a pre-termination hearing will happen around next week, and Hankison and his attorney, Atty. David Leightty will respond to the allegation. Schroeder will issue a final decision and Hankison can appeal to the Police Merit Board within 10 days. The board will consider if the decision was justified if it is not then it can levy its own punishment.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Officer Myles Cosgrove, the two other officers who fired their weapons at Taylor's apartment, are still on administrative reassignment.
Hankison was also accused of sexual assault by several women on social media. The allegations are all similar, saying that he offered intoxicated women a ride home from bars before sexually assaulting them. Hankison's attorney did not respond to the allegations.
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Atty. Sam Aguiar, the attorney who represents Breonna Taylor's family, said that it is about time that Hankison gets fired. According to Atty. Aguiar, Hankison could not be located after the shooting incident. He also said that witnesses heard the officer yell "reload" and fired more into Taylor's apartment.
Breonna Taylor's murder
The 26-year-old victim, Breonna Taylor, was shot eight times and died in her hallway after three officers fired their weapons in her apartment, they were aiming for Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.
In Walker's defense, he said he only fired one shot because he thought they were intruders who just barged in their apartment. Walker's shot hit Mattingly in the leg. The officers did not knock nor announce their presence, the no-knock warrant was signed by Judge Mary Shaw and it was for a drug investigation. Unfortunately, the police officers got the wrong apartment.
According to the police officers, they knocked on Taylor's door and they announced their presence, but Taylor's neighbors and the attorneys said it was not what happened. Police officer Joshua Jaynes, the one who sought the no-knock warrant, has been reassigned while his investigation is still ongoing.
The three officers who were at the scene and fired their weapons are being investigated by the state attorney general and the FBI, but neither has announced any criminal charges.
The Louisville FBI officials were at Taylor's apartment on June 19 to do a search warrant as part of their investigation and to look for fresh evidence.
Taylor's death is one of the many cases that the Black Lives Matter movement is fighting for. The protests, that is still ongoing, is calling for the end of systemic racism and police brutality in the United States.
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