LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) detective Myles Cosgrove is fighting to get his job back. Cosgrove is appearing before the Louisville Metro Police Merit Board in hopes that the board will reinstate him.

On Wednesday, the board heard from former acting LMPD chief Yvette Gentry, who fired Myles Cosgrove earlier this year. Gentry said Cosgrove failed to properly identify a target or activate his body camera, and then proceeded to fire 16 rounds into Breonna Taylor’s apartment which then resulted in her death.

“Officers work under some very difficult situations. Most environments are not controlled situations but we teach and reinforce that you are responsible for every round, so you have to be able to articulate: tell us when you use deadly force, you have to tell us why you saw the imminent threat,” Gentry said.

Cosgrove's attorney Scott Miller argued that Cosgrove saw a muzzle flash and that officer Jon Mattingly was shot and shot at his feet, and that his response was reasonable under those circumstances. But based on previous interviews, Gentry said Cosgrove did not clearly identify a threat.

“He also saw distinct lights and all of these things but I needed him to understand and articulate what threat did he see that he responded to," Gentry said. "Because if the grey shadowy mask is Breonna Taylor and she was his target, I needed him to say that or was she not the target and he accidentally fired the 16 rounds at someone who wasn't his target.”

Miller focused on target identification and target isolation, explaining that there is no guidance on the extent you have to use that and it's based upon the officer's reasonable perception at the time.

Miller also asked Gentry if she was aware that “the mayor wanted the officers fired.” Gentry concluded that she had heard that but that Mayor Fischer did not specifically tell her that.

“You have to see your target,” Gentry said.

“Yeah, but he doesn't have to just rely on that, he can rely on the feeling, what's going on around him as well,” Miller said.

“No, you have to see your target,” Gentry said.

“He can't use all of his senses to determine there's a threat?" Miller replied.

"Right, target identification is seeing your target and seeing what your shooting at," Gentry said.

Gentry said she had lost faith in Cosgrove after his response to the incident.

“15 years like I said about minimal 25-30 firearms training, it's about your decision making and how you react under stress," she said. "He reacted so poorly under his stress that I didn't have any confidence to put him back out there as a police officer."

Gentry went onto say that LMPD officers have required firearm and fire discipline classes at least twice a year. The Metro Merit Board’s questions revolved around LMPD’s training as well as the pressures during a high stress situation. 

Cosgrove will continue to make his case in front of the Louisville Metro Police Merit Board starting December 14.

The only officer charged in connection with Taylor's death was Brett Hankison. Hankison faces three counts of wanton endangerment stemming from the shots investigators said he fired blindly into a neighboring apartment during the raid on Taylor's home in 2020.