LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Breonna Taylor's boyfriend testified Monday that he felt like he was "in a war" the night she was killed, describing the exchange of gunfire that started when he thought someone was trying to break into the apartment.
Prosecutors called Kenneth Walker to the stand in the federal trial of former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison to discuss what happened that night. Hankison is facing federal civil rights charges and is accused of firing his weapon blindly through a sliding glass door and a bedroom window.
Walker fired a single shot that hit former LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the upper left thigh when LMPD officers serving a search warrant used a battering ram to break down the door to Taylor's apartment near Pleasure Ridge Park shortly before 1 a.m. March 20, 2022. He has claimed he was acting in self-defense, believing the officers were intruders.
He testified Monday that he didn't know he hit anyone. Mattingly and former Detectives Myles Cosgrove and Hankison combined to return 32 shots. Walker said Taylor screamed at the top of her lungs after she was shot by police. He told prosecutors he didn't think he was going to live as he was laying on the ground, trying to avoid the gunfire from police.
"I felt like I was in a war and I was out of ammo," Walker told prosecutors.
Walker said Taylor was unresponsive after the initial scream. She didn't respond when he said her name, Walker said.Â
She was hit six times and died in the hallway.Â
Walker was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the case was later dismissed. He settled a lawsuit against the city for $2 million last November.
He said it all started after he fell asleep late that night. He was jolted awake by a loud bang at the door.
"It sounded aggressive," he said. "Knocking on the door is different than beating on the door, and they were beating on the door."
When asked questions by the defense Monday, Walker responded "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" for a majority of answers.
It appears the defense is essentially looking to prove Walker knew it was the police and that's why he kicked the gun under the bed. Walker again stresses at that point he didn't know it was the police.
— Hayden Ristevski (@HaydenRistevski) November 6, 2023
Police were looking for money or drugs involving Jamarcus Glover, who was at the center of a narcotics probe by Louisville police. The warrant for Taylor's home was executed around the same time that police served other warrants on suspected drug houses in the city's west end — some 10 miles away.
No drugs were found in her home. An investigator with LMPD's Public Integrity Unit confirmed that police didn't find any evidence inside the apartment that tied Taylor to any crime.
A SWAT officer, an LMPD investigator who was at the scene after the shooting, a special agent with the FBI who processed the scene and a forensic firearms scientist also testified Monday. Much of their testimony focused on the scene itself: the bullets, shell casings and bullet fragments found after the shooting.
One witness said he's never processed a scene with so much damage from bullets.
To follow along with Hayden Ristevski on the trial, click here.
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