Newly released documents stemming from an internal probe into the death of Breonna Taylor determined that the three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved should not have fired shots into Taylor’s home, CBS News reports.
According to documents obtained by ABC News, Sgt. Andrew Meyer from the department’s Professional Standards Unit determined that the three officers should have held their fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot.
“They took a total of thirty-two shots, when the provided circumstances made it unsafe to take a single shot. This is how the wrong person was shot and killed,” Meyer wrote in his report.
Meyer said the officers involved in the raid that resulted in Taylor’s death—Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove—violated the department’s use-of-force policy, adding that deadly force should have been used only against Walker after he fired a shot.
“Ms. Taylor’s safety should have been considered before he [Mattingly] returned fire,” Meyer wrote. While Walker was not injured in the shooting, Taylor was shot six times, including at least once by Mattingly, according to the report.
In January, both Hankison and Cosgrove were fired from the department for violating its policies. Only Hankison was charged for his actions in the raid on Taylor’s apartment, though not for her death. Meanwhile, Mattingly informed the police department in April that he plans to retire on June 1, according to a department spokesperson.
