LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A neighbor of Breonna Taylor and fired Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad were two of several people to testify at the federal trial of Brett Hankison on Tuesday.

The case stems from Hankison's involvement in LMPD's March 2020 police raid on Taylor's home. Hankison fired his gun several times, shooting into Taylor's apartment through a sliding glass door and a window. 

Hankison, 47, was indicted in August 2022 on two charges of deprivation of rights for firing into a bedroom window in Taylor's apartment that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain after "there was no longer a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force," according to the indictment.

Cody Etherton lived in the apartment next to Taylor. He was called to testify on Tuesday.

Etherton said he woke up the sound of a loud boom the night of the raid. As he walked toward his front door, he heard gunshots and dropped to the floor. His family, including his 5-year-old son, and girlfriend, who was seven months pregnant, were also in the apartment that night. 

When shots were being fired, Etherton said he was hit in the face with drywall. He said bullets were flying inches away from him.

"You could hear all the chips of wood and drywall," Etherton said. "You could hear it everywhere. You could hear glass shattering. It was chaotic."

After the shooting stopped, Etherton said he heard someone next door yelling "breathe baby breathe." 

Prosecutors asked Etherton how he felt after learning it was police who fired the shots.

"I was upset," Etherton responded. "I feel like they put my family in harm's way. They put my family in danger that night."

Etherton said he's been diagnosed with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since the raid.

On Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors called Michael Van Arsdale, a forensic scientist and firearms examiner with the FBI. He went to Taylor's apartment in June 2020 to examine the scene. 

Van Arsdale discussed a diagram of Taylor's apartment. He found around 60 bullet impacts around the apartment, which doesn't mean 60 shots were fired, instead 60 holes and impacts. The graphic included purple lines showing the bullet trajectory of Hankison's gun.

Bryce Ziegler, who works for the FBI's laboratory division, said four bullets he analyzed matched Hankison's gun. He said one bullet was fired from Kenneth Walker's gun.

LMPD officer Chris Kitchen was later called to the stand. He was working with LMPD's Swat Team on the night of the raid. When Kitchen arrived on scene, he checked out the scene of the apartment with a telephoto lens. Kitchen said he didn't think anyone would have fired inside the apartment because he couldn't see in.

"There is no way to identify anything on the other side of that window," Kitchen said.

Kitchen said Taylor was "lifeless" when SWAT went inside the apartment.

After the raid, Kitchen said Hankison was bouncing up and down, pointing at his chest and appeared to be boasting. 

"It made me sick," Kitchen said.

Former LMPD chief Steve Conrad was then called to testify. Former Mayor Greg Fischer fired Conrad after learning that officers weren't using body cameras during the fatal shooting of business owner David McAtee during the 2020 protests that erupted over Taylor's death days earlier.

Prosecutors asked Conrad when officers were permitted to use deadly force.

"The use of deadly physical force, in other words using a firearm, was something that we did not take lightly," Conrad answered. 

When asked about target identification, Conrad said, "Officers are required to act or react to someone using deadly force themselves. You can't shoot at someone if you don't see someone, there has to be a threat there." 

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.

To follow along with Hayden Ristevski on the trial, click here.

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