Breonna Taylor's mother says she's still waiting for answers from police

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020, led to the termination of three officers, a $12 million settlement, a new law and numerous departmental reforms.

Taylor's mother, however, said there's still something missing: accountability.

In a recent one-on-one interview with WDRB News, Tamika Palmer said no one from Louisville Metro Police has explained to her what happened the night officers shot and killed her daughter — and why.

"I haven't dealt with them since the night that this occurred," she said.

It's been nearly one year since Palmer received a devastating phone call around 1 a.m. from her daughter's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.

"He called to say, 'Someone kicked the door in, and I think they shot Breonna,'" she said. "I was like, 'What are you talking about, Kenny?' And he was crying and just like still screaming for help and screaming Breonna's name."

Undercover LMPD officers serving a search warrant at Taylor's apartment used a battering ram to break into the residence. The raid was one of several conducted that night as part of a narcotics investigation. Walker, who has said he thought the officers were intruders, fired a shot that hit one of the officers in leg.

The officers combined to return 32 shots, and Taylor was hit six times and died in her hallway.

LMPD battering ram outside Breonna Taylor's apartment — A photo taken by Louisville Metro Police investigators after the early-morning March 13 raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment.

When Palmer went to check on her daughter at her apartment near Pleasure Ridge Park, she said she was redirected to the hospital.

"When I get there, I tell them why I am there and that I am looking for my daughter," she said. "They tell me to hold on, and she comes back and she's like, 'She's not here.'"

Taylor wasn't at a hospital. Palmer said she learned the painful truth about her daughter during a conversation with a detective nearly 12 hours later at the apartment complex.

"He comes over and he says, 'Yeah, we're almost done. You guys will be able to get in there,'" she said. "I'm screaming at him like, 'Where's Breonna? Why won't you tell me where Breonna is?'

"He says, 'Oh, well, she's in the apartment.' So, I knew what that meant."

Breonna Taylor 1.jpg — Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police officers serving a search warrant at her apartment on March 13, 2020. Nothing illegal was found at Taylor's apartment, and none of the officers who fired shots into the residence were charged in connection to her death.

Three of the officers involved in the raid of Taylor's apartment have since been fired, but none of the three who fired their weapons into the residence were charged in connection with her death. In September, a Jefferson County grand jury charged one of those officers, former Detective Brett Hankison, with three felony counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into an apartment neighboring Taylor's during the raid.

"Do you think that there's been enough of an investigation into the officers who were involved?" WDRB News asked Palmer.

"I'll never really fully be satisfied until justice is served," she said.

What does justice look like to her?

"Having these officers prosecuted," she said. "I don't think it's too much to ask. It's just the right thing to do. It was a number of events that they did wrong and that they lied about and covered up."

"When you say 'lies,' can you be specific?" WDRB News asked.

"To start, the lie to even get the warrant," she said. "You lied under oath. Last I checked, that was a crime."

Exterior of Breonna Taylor's apartment — A photo taken by Louisville Metro Police investigators after the early-morning March 13 raid on Breonna Taylor's apartment.

Former LMPD Detective Joshua Jaynes was fired for violations of standard operating procedures related to the preparation for search warrant execution and for being "untruthful" in his request for a search warrant on Taylor's apartment, according to his termination letter from former interim LMPD Chief Yvette Gentry. Gentry specifically cited that Jaynes said he verified through a U.S. Postal Inspector that a suspect, Jamarcus Glover, had been receiving suspicious packages at the apartment.

"The way that they first told this story, as if she was some sort of drug dealer that they were having a shootout with," Palmer said.

No drugs or money were found at Taylor's apartment, according to a police inventory log.

Jaynes, however, stands by his actions and has asked the Police Merit Board to review his termination.

In the wake of Taylor's death, Louisville Metro Council passed "Breonna's Law," which banned no-knock warrants citywide and requires that body cameras be worn and activated by all officers present for at least five minutes before and after a warrant is issued. State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, has also proposed a bill in Taylor's honor to the Kentucky General Assembly that would ban no-knock warrants statewide.

Palmer, meanwhile, is still fighting for her daughter.

"She's gone, but it's still my job to make sure that she gets justice," Palmer said.

Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer speaks after Breonna's Law passes — Tamika Palmer (second from left), Breonna Taylor's mother, speaks after the passing of Breonna's Law on Thursday, June 11, 2020, in Louisville, Ky.

Justice, Palmer said, also includes correcting misinformation about her daughter's job status at the time of her death.

"She was an EMT," Palmer said. "She left to go to the ER, so she worked at two different hospitals in the ER."

"You hear the rumors about Breonna being terminated, do you know how that started?" WDRB News asked.

"I don't," Palmer said. "It is insane. I don't know where that came from."

Not long after the city's $12 million settlement with Taylor's family, someone on social media alleged Palmer had purchased a Bentley and an $800,000 home. Palmer said none of that post is true.

"The day someone decided to wake up and make that up is insane to me," she said. "I never cared about the money. It wasn't a priority for me."

Tamika Palmer at rally — FILE - In this Sept. 25, 2020, file photo Tamika Palmer, the mother of Breonna Taylor, right, listens to a news conference in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)

In fact, Palmer returned to her job as a certified hemodialysis technician in January.

"My patients missed me and were happy for me to be back," she said.

"Has that been therapeutic?" WDRB News asked.

"Oh, definitely," she said. "Oh, definitely,"

Palmer said protests demanding justice for her daughter on Louisville's streets and across the nation have motivated her to keep her moving.

"Even when you don't want to get up, it's these people who don't know her and never met her but they're up and they're saying her name and they're fighting for her and they're demanding justice," she said.

"How do you not get up?"