LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Louisville Metro Police detective Brett Hankison was on the stand again Tuesday as prosecutors cross-examined him in his federal retrial on civil rights charges, accusing him of endangering Breonna Taylor and her neighbors when he fired blindly into their apartments.
Federal prosecutor Michael Songer said Hankison “assumed” his partners were being “executed” by a suspect firing at them.
Hankison testified, “My decision to fire at that time were based on the facts that were known to me at the time.”
But Songer argued what Hankison thought was happening in the moments of the shooting were not facts.
Hankison was questioned about police training, target identification and target isolation as it related to responding to an imminent deadly threat.
Songer asked Hankison, “But you agree you had to have target identification and isolation before shooting at a deadly threat?” Songer asked.
“Those are some training guidelines, yes sir,” Hankison stated.
Songer continued, “Do you agree you are responsible for every round you fire?”
“Yes, sir,” Hankison said. He continued, “I saw the threat, and I heard the threat.”
When asked about the risk of his shots passing through Taylor’s apartment into neighboring apartments, Hankison said, he was “Not aware of another apartment sharing a wall.”
Cross-examination by U.S. prosecutors also focused on Hankison's perception of muzzle flashes through Taylor's covered apartment window and patio door. Seeing the light through the windows doesn't pinpoint the position the person was firing.
Songer asked Hankison if he knew an AR-15 was not fired.
"I don't know that," Hankison responded. "I agree that (Public Integrity Unit) did not locate an AR-15 in the apartment,"
The prosecution referenced previous sworn statements made by Hankison, including him agreeing with no AR-15 being used during the incident.
"I could not see a person (through the window)," Hankison testified. He added, "I saw the light; I knew something was happening."
The prosecution asked Hankison whether he could see any person in the living room other than seeing the light from muzzle flashes coming through the window.
"No, just the threat," Hankison answered.
"Just the light?" Songer asked.
"Which was the threat," Hankison stated.
Hankison shot 10 rounds total, five through a covered sliding glass patio doors and five through a secondary bedroom window. Hankison's first volley of rounds were shot through the patio door, with several rounds coming within a few feet from other responding officers positioned at the front door.
The prosecution asked Hankison if he shot in the opposite direction from the only place he had ever seen the suspect.
"Correct," Hankison answered. He testified, "It was my assumption he had moved up and was engaging officers," adding "I thought the shooter had advanced."
When referencing the bullet trajectory data, showing several rounds passed near the front door, Hankison stated, "I agree with you they would have been hit if they entered the apartment."
"I was shooting at the threat; I wasn't shooting at the officers," Hankison said.
Tuesday is the sixth day of testimony in Hankison’s trial, which is in its third week.
Hankison is the only officer who has faced a jury trial so far in Taylor’s death, which sparked months of street protests for the fatal shooting of the 26-year-old Black woman by white officers, drawing national attention to police brutality in the summer of 2020.
Hankison has said in testimony through two trials and this retrial that he was taking action to protect officers by firing into Taylor’s apartment after former Sgt. John Mattingly was hit in the leg.
Hankison’s testimony has proven powerful — after he testified in his 2022 wanton endangerment trial, he was acquitted after the jury deliberated for three hours. Last year, following his testimony, a jury deliberated for three days before deadlocking, saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict on Hankison’s guilt.
Hankison said the night of the raid was the first time he had fired his gun in nearly 20 years of policing.
Several witnesses, including Louisville’s police chief, have testified during the trial that Hankison violated Louisville police policy that requires officers to identify a target before firing.
Hankison said he saw bright bursts of light through the curtains on the glass door and window, making him believe the shooter inside was continuing to fire at officers.
Hankison was one of four officers who were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylor’s civil rights. The two counts against him carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if he is convicted. The three other former officers charged were involved in crafting the search warrant.
The federal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice so far have yielded just one conviction — a plea deal from a former Louisville officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness — while felony civil rights charges against two officers accused of falsifying information in the warrant for the raid were thrown out by a judge last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.