Last March, narcotic officers in Louisville, Kentucky, armed with a “no-knock” warrant, kicked in the apartment door of Breonna Taylor, and shot to death the 26-year old EMT as she slept in her bed. The person they were hoping to find was already in police custody elsewhere in the city and did not live in Taylor’s home.
Police were able to obtain a search warrant for the apartment, saying they believed the suspect they were looking for used her apartment to receive drugs or hide drug money. Officers did not find any drugs in her apartment.
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one warning shot when he heard people attempting to enter the apartment. Walker maintains that police did not identify themselves and he believed someone was trying to break into the apartment. The Louisville police officers responded by using a battering ram to enter the apartment and then firing at will. Taylor was shot eight times by three police officers.
Walker was initially taken into custody and charged with attempted murder, but prosecutors later dropped that charge. On Thursday, the city released a 911 call made by Kenneth Walker and it seems to bolster his claim that police did not identify themselves. WLKY obtained the 911 audio. Below is the transcript of that emergency call from Walker. In the audio you can hear the confusion and fear as Walker tells the dispatcher someone broke in their home and shot his girlfriend.
Walker to 911 dispatch: "I don't know what happened ... somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend."
Walker stayed on the line for nearly 2 minutes.
Dispatch: Ok, how old is your girlfriend?
Walker: She's like 26... Bre...
Dispatch: You said 26 where was she shot at
Walker: I don't know, she is on the ground right now. I don't know, I don't know... mama
Dispatch: You said she's 26. Is she alert and able to talk to you?
Walker: No, she's not... Bre...
Dispatch: Alright and you said you're at apartment number 4?
Walker: Help! Oh my god... Breonna...
The Courier-Journal obtained some of Walker’s statements during an interview with police immediately after the shooting. Walker says he hung up with 911 to call Breonna’s mother and while on the phone with her, he realized it was the police outside his door. He left his apartment and was arrested.
According to CBS, the Louisville Police Department says the narcotics officers, who were not in uniform and who arrived in unmarked cars, entered the apartment and were “immediately met by gunfire.” In a lawsuit filed on behalf of Breonna Taylor’s family, "The Defendants (police) then proceeded to spray gunfire into the residence with a total disregard for the value of human life.” That disregard for the value of human life was also backed up by other calls to 911 that night.
In addition to Walker, other neighbors frantically called 911 as gunfire rang out in their apartment complex. More on those calls from The Courier-Journal:
As gunfire erupted in Taylor's apartment, her neighbors placed their own worried calls to 911, unaware that police were already on the scene.
One woman urged police to come to the apartments because "they are shooting bad."
"They just unloaded and I heard somebody yell again reload," she said.
She continued: "They right here in front of my ... house and I got my grandbaby and my kids here."
Another woman described jumping out of bed because the shots scared her and her daughter.
"They're still shootin'," she said. "Come on. Come on," she said to someone in the home with her before turning back to the dispatcher.
"Y'all need to get over here; they're shooting the hell like crazy."
The FBI is currently investigating the case.
Protesters took to the streets in Louisville on Thursday to protest her death at the hands of police. Seven people were shot during the protest. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement that the shots were fired by someone in the crowd, not by Louisville police. Assistant Police Chief LaVita Chavous said they had no leads in that protest shooting at this time.