LMPD officer recounts witnessing aftermath of Breonna Taylor shooting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police Officer Donavas Duncan was not on duty the night Breonna Taylor was shot and killed, but he ended up at the scene.

Just after 12:30 a.m. on March 13, LMPD officers used a battering ram to enter Taylor's apartment in the St. Anthony Gardens Apartments complex to execute a search warrant in connection to a drug investigation.

Duncan, who lives in the complex said he heard "about 20 to 25 shots" outside before grabbing his police radio.

"Started to hear that an officer had been shot, and then I heard the address," Duncan said, "3000 block of Springfield (Drive)."

That's when Duncan said he put on his uniform, including a bulletproof vest, and ran a little more than 100 yards to the scene. Outside Taylor's apartment, he said the gunfire had ended — but not the trauma.

"At that point and time, I'm showing up after the fact," Duncan said. "... They started to call the occupant out — the occupant is Kenneth Walker. They started to call him out and tell him to walk backwards towards them."

Scene 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.

Duncan didn't know Taylor but said he went to school with Walker. He said he saw fellow officers questioning Walker, a register gun owner who police say fired a single shot from the hallway of Taylor's apartment that struck LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg when officers burst into the residence.

Officers returned fire, striking Taylor five times, according to her death certificate. Photos taken by LMPD investigators after the raid show Taylor lying at the end of the hallway by her bedroom and at least 34 shell casings in and around her apartment.

"It wasn't until they asked if somebody else was inside that (Walker) then said that somebody was inside and hurt," Duncan said. "That it was his girlfriend."

Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor — Kenneth Walker, right, and Breonna Taylor

PHOTOS: Inside Breonna Taylor's apartment after police raid

Walker claims he and Taylor did not hear the officers announce that they were police and believed someone was breaking into the apartment. Although a judge approved a no-knock warrant for Taylor's apartment, police claim they identified themselves and knocked on Taylor's door before bursting in.

After Walker was taken into custody, Duncan said he began helping to secure the scene and control the crowd. During that time, he said he was approached by Taylor and Walker's family members, who were looking for answers.

"I had talked to Kenneth Walker's family," Duncan said. "I also talked to Breonna Taylor's mom at that point and just told her, you know, 'Hold on, I'll go get a detective or investigator to come talk to you.'"

The fatal shooting of Taylor, a Black woman, has drawn national attention and sparked months of protests in Louisville. Attorney General Daniel Cameron has yet to announce whether his office will bring charges against the officers who fired their weapons during the raid on Taylor's apartment — Mattingly and Detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison.

LMPD officers involved in Breonna Taylor shooting — From left: Former Louisville Metro Police Department Det. Myles Cosgrove, former Det. Brett Hankison and former Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly.

Duncan said he has not been interviewed by Cameron's office and that he will continue to protect and serve — even during a time when being Black and in blue is not easy or popular.

"As an officer, you have to understand that you signed up to do this job," he said. "... It's been difficult, being out on the front lines. People that look like me are disappointed in me, that I am in the uniform that I am in."

Duncan joined LMPD nearly three years ago after serving in the U.S. Army. He said he joined the department to make a difference in his community, which is why he was at Taylor's apartment for several hours, "until about 5 or 6 in the morning," despite being off the clock.

"What everybody needs to understand," Duncan said, "is that the push for answers is the fact that a woman died that night."

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