Breonna Taylor's neighbors sue LMPD officers, claim they 'blindly fired' into apartment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Neighbors of Breonna Taylor have filed a lawsuit against the Louisville Metro Police officers who shot and killed Taylor during a March 13 raid, saying they fired shots "blindly."

Chelsey Napper and Cody Etherton, who live in Taylor's apartment complex, claim in the suit that officers Myles Cosgrove, Brett Hankison and Jonathan Mattingly "blindly fired" shots into their apartment "with a total disregard for the value of human life."

"A message needs to be sent to the police that the city's citizens right to feel safe in their homes is paramount," said Brandon Lawrence, the attorney representing the neighbors, in a statement to WDRB.

Napper, who was pregnant at the time, was asleep in her Springfield Drive apartment with Etherton and a child when the officers executed a search warrant on Taylor's apartment, according to the lawsuit, which claims the officers "failed to use any sound reasonable judgment whatsoever" during the raid. The suit was filed in May.

Photos obtained by WDRB News show bullet holes scattered throughout Taylor's apartment, from the bathroom wall to curtains in the living room, windows and sauce pans in the kitchen.

Napper and Etherton's lawsuit, filed by Lawrence, claims the officers fired "more than 25 shots into multiple homes."

"A bullet that was shot from the Defendant police officer’s gun flew inches past Cody Etherton’s head while he was in the hallway of Chelsey Napper’s apartment," the lawsuit reads.

Bullets scattered throughout Napper's living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and shattered her sliding glass door, according to court documents.

Neighbors' 911 calls from the night Taylor was killed, which were released May 28 by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, indicate officers' shots entered other apartments.

"Our apartments got bullet holes through it," one neighbor told dispatch. "My son is in here sleeping, and I need somebody to let them know, like that we need help in here. I don’t understand what’s going on."

Napper and Etherton's lawsuit also alleges the officers "unlawfully attempted" to take Etherton into custody, though it does not elaborate.

Despite saying the officers "had a knock and announce warrant" for Taylor's apartment, Napper and Etherton's suit claims the officers approached Taylor's apartment "in a manner that kept them from being detected by neighbors" and entered the residence "without knocking and without announcing themselves as police officers."

Previous reporting shows police requested a "no-knock" warrant on Taylor's apartment, which they believed was being used to receive packages and keep narcotics or proceeds for suspected drug dealer Jamarcus Glover.

Mattingly said he and the other officers knocked on Taylor's apartment door "six or seven" times and announced themselves as police, according to evidence presented May 22 by Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine.

Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, acknowledged hearing someone knocking on the apartment door in audio provided by Wine, but a 911 call from March 13 details Walker telling a 911 dispatcher someone "kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend."

Taylor's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Cosgrove, Hankison and Mattingly. Taylor's death has sparked eight nights of protests in Louisville against police brutality and prompted Metro Council members to propose an ordinance that would regulate the Louisville Metro Police Department's use of "no-knock" warrants.

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