Brett Hankison's actions in Breonna Taylor raid were 'unfathomably dangerous,' officers will testify

LOUISIVLLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Louisville Metro Police officers will testify that former Det. Brett Hankison blindly firing 10 shots into Breonna Taylor's home and a neighboring apartment during the botched March 13, 2020, raid was “unfathomably dangerous," a prosecutor said Monday.

And one officer who was part of the raid will tell jurors he was nearly killed by Hankison’s actions, Anna Mary Gotfryd told jurors in her opening statements of Hankison's third trial. He is facing a possible life sentence on two counts of civil rights violations and using excessive force.

Former Det. Myles Cosgrove, who was part of the raid that ended with Taylor’s death, will testify he was “shocked” when Hankison fired shots through closed blinds and curtains, with one missing him by just feet and another hitting right above Taylor’s head as she lay crumpled on the floor struggling to breathe, Gotfryd said.

Hankison's attorney argued that he thought other officers were being "executed" and he was trying to save them from what he believed was a gun fight in which police may have been trapped in a hallway with someone shooting an assault rifle.

In actuality, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had fired one shot from a handgun, believing the couple were being robbed. Police were trying to serve a search warrant as part of a larger drug investigation.

After openings, Cosgrove backed up the prosecution's statements, saying he was "shocked" by the shots taken by Hankison, through covered windows without seeing a target, and that he was almost hit by one of the bullets.

"With the information I had, I didn't see any reason to do that," Cosgrove said. "You don't shoot into an unknown area. ... There's too much risk to do that."

He said officers are taught you need to be able to see what you are shooting at.

"That is somewhat commonsense," Cosgrove told jurors. "It's unfathomably too dangerous to do that."

Defense attorneys tried to ask Cosgrove why he was fired by the department, when the prosecution objected. The arguments were covered by white noise and could not be heard by people in the court.

Cosgrove was fired in 2021 for failing to properly "identify a target” or justify the number of shots fired given he never saw a gun and could only see a shadowy figure. He was never criminally charged.

Gotfryd said Hankison has admitted under oath that he could not see what he was shooting at that night, which resulted in three of the 10 bullets he fired flying into an adjacent apartment where Cody Etherton, Chelsey Napper and her 5-year-old child lived.

A bullet missed Eitherton by inches and both he and Napper are suffering from PTSD since the shooting.

Walker, Taylor's boyfriend, admitted to firing at police with a handgun as they entered the apartment but claimed he believed the officers were intruders. He hit former officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.

Hankison fired five shots into Taylor's living room from outside through a blinded sliding door according to the prosecution. He fired five more shots through a bedroom window that was covered by curtains.

“He knew he wasn’t supposed to fire through those covered windows, but he did it anyway,” Gotfryd said in her opening statement.

But defense attorney Jack Byrd told jurors that testimony from several officers will differ from what prosecutors allege, and that Hankison was trying to save the lives of fellow officers he believed were being shot.

When officers broke though the door to Taylor’s home, Hankison saw a muzzle flash, heard shots and knew police were trapped in a “fatal funnel,” unable to quickly get out of the way of the shooter.

“He believes there is someone with a rifle … executing his friends,” Byrd said of Hankison. “So he fires five shots” but the shooting continues. Hankison fired five more times and the shooting stopped, according to Byrd.

“None of his rounds hit anybody,” Byrd said. “He wasn’t firing wildly.”

In addition, after the shooting, Hankison told other officers they needed to go into the apartment because someone was injured, but a commander told him officers were going to wait for SWAT before entering the home, Byrd said.

And no police officer or expert witness knows what Hankinson could see that night, he said.

“Brett Hankison did everything he could to try to protect and save his fellow officers,” Bryd said. “If he had been correct (Walker shooting at police with a rifle) and done nothing, the results would be unimaginable.”

After three days of jury selection, the 15-person jury was seated Friday. The alternates will be chosen at the end of the trial. The jury is made up of eight men and seven women. There is one Black juror. The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.

The charges stem from the botched raid of Taylor's home in the middle of the night in which police officers busted down her door to serve a search warrant related to a drug dealer who lived 10 miles away. Multiple other warrants were being served at the same time.

After Walker fired a shot that hit former Mattingly in the leg, multiple LMPD officers returned fire, killing Taylor, 26. No drugs were found in her home.

In 2020, police sought out a search warrant for Taylor's home as part of a broader investigation that focused on drug suspect Jamarcus Glover. Police believed Glover may have been using Taylor's apartment to receive drugs and store money.

This is Hankison's third trial related to his actions the night of the raid. A federal jury in November 2023 deadlocked on two counts of civil rights violations and using excessive force.

A state Jefferson Circuit Court jury in March 2022 found Hankison not guilty on three counts of wanton endangerment.

Also on Monday, Napper testified she and Etherton woke up to "what sounded like a bomb going off. It was really loud. I jumped out of bed and he jumped out of bed, and we didn't know what was going on."

Etherton ran down the hallway yelling about bullets being fired, she said. He screamed for her to get their child and laid on the ground.

"It was like a war zone," she said.

Napper said she covered the child with her body until the shooting stopped.

"They're were bullets flying through the wall," she testified. "I was just trying to shield him from whatever was going on."

Napper and Etherton have a civil lawsuit pending against police and the city.

Taylor was inside the apartment with Walker in bed when police burst in early in the morning on March 13, 2020.

LMPD has claimed that while Jaynes obtained a "no-knock" warrant, police repeatedly knocked on Taylor's door and announced themselves before bursting in.

Byrd told jurors that officers and other witnesses will testify that police knocked longer and louder than is typical before busting through a door.

“They don’t open the door,” Byrd said. “Officer Mattingly steps up and he is instantly shot.”

Cosgrove testified he saw no lights come on inside the home and heard no voices or movement before police busted through the door, indicating Taylor and Walker did not hear police.

When Cosgrove entered Taylor's home, he could not see anything. He was a step behind Mattingly.

"I am met by gunfire from inside the apartment," Cosgrove said. He saw a single muzzle flash. Cosgrove also saw a silhouette in front of Mattingly. He knew Mattingly had been shot.

Mattingly fell to the ground at Cosgrove's feet. "We're in a gunfight," Cosgrove testified. "I have no doubt that is what is happening."

Cosgrove returned fire while trying to shield Mattingly. "I'm not going to leave John at the doorway while he is being fired at."

Cosgrove fired 16 shots but told investigators he believed he had only fired a half-dozen times. He did not know at the time how many times Walker had fired at police.

Mattingly and Cosgrove were not charged.

Mattingly retired and Cosgrove was fired for failing to properly “identify a target,” violating the department’s use of force policy and failing to use a body camera.

Three other former officers have also been federally charged for their involvement in the Taylor case: Kyle Meany, Kelly Goodlett and Joshua Jaynes.

The charges resulted from a federal investigation that, in part, looked at how police obtained the search warrant for Taylor's apartment, something a prior state investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office did not pursue. Cameron has said that aspect was part of the U.S. Justice Department's work.

Jaynes and Meany are accused of drafting and approving "what they knew was a false affidavit to support a search warrant for Ms. Taylor's home," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke has said. "That false affidavit set in motion events that led to Ms. Taylor's death when other LMPD officers executed that warrant."

Goodlett has already pleaded guilty in federal court to felony conspiracy for helping to falsify the affidavit and then conspiring with Jaynes to cover it up. She is expected to testify against Jaynes and Meaney.

This story will be updated.

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