Breonna Taylor, 13.03.2020. Shot dead – Louisville (KY)

Breonna Taylor, an certified emergency room technician, was struck by eight police bullets as officers attempted to serve a no-knock warrant on her home during a narcotics investigation.

Records show that police believed that a suspect in the narcotics investigation, Jamarcus Glover, used Breonna’s home to receive mail, keep drugs or stash money earned from the sale of drugs. However, according to the lawsuit filed by Breonna’s family, police had identified Glover at a home more than 10 miles from Breonna’s apartment before they executed the warrant at her residence.

The police pursued ‘no-knock‘ search warrant in fatal shooting of Breonna in her home, meaning they don’t have to identify themselves before entering a residence or business, if there is a reasonable suspicion that knocking would be dangerous, futile or inhibit the “effective investigation of the crime,” according to Louisville Metro Police policies.

Breonna and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker woke up to the unannounced entry and believed their home was being broken into. Kenneth Walker fired his gun first, believing intruders were invading their home and striking an officer in the leg. Officers returned fire. No drugs were found in the home. During the gunfire, Breonna was struck at least eight times and died.

There is no body camera footage available. Police Chief Steve Conrad said the Criminal Interdiction Squad does not use that equipment.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and  U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., are among those calling for a federal investigation into Breonna‘s death.

Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general, released the 15-hour recordings that include interviews with witnesses, audio of 911 calls and other evidence after a judge ordered him to do so, but the recordings did not include the instructions that prosecutors gave to the 12 jurors. Grand jurors are given broad powers, but prosecutors often closely guide the jurors and inform them about their role. The process almost always remains secret.

The grand jurors met in person over three days and reviewed police interviews of officers and witnesses at the scene, 911 calls and body camera videos from after Breonna‘s death. They also met directly with detectives who had investigated the killing. At times the jurors sound inquisitive or skeptical on the recordings, peppering the detectives with questions and pointing out inconsistencies in some of the officers’ accounts.

A federal judge in Kentucky Monday 21, July 2025 sentenced former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for using excessive force during the deadly police raid that killed Breonna in her own home. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings rejected prosecutors’ recommendation to have Hankison sentenced to just one day in prison, calling the effort “not appropriate.”

Hankison fired 10 bullets during the no-knock raid in March 2020 — some of which penetrated the walls of a neighbor’s home where a family was sleeping. Breonna was a Black woman, whose killing sparked nationwide racial justice protests under the banner “Black Lives Matter.” Civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke after Monday’s sentencing.

“Breonna Taylor’s killing, five years later, is telling us a lot at which direction we’re going to go. Are we going to continue to be a democracy that upholds the objective of liberty and justice for all, or are we going to descend into being a police state where the police can do anything?”

Louisville Metro Police arrested four protesters who blocked traffic outside the federal court where Hankison was sentenced Monday. Among those arrested was Bianca Austin, Breonna’s aunt.

Justice & Light for Breonna and her loved ones!