LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There are many hours of video of officers giving accounts of what happened in the early morning hours of March 13 at Breonna Taylor's home, revealed in the release of Louisville Metro Police Department's (LMPD) Public Integrity Unit (PIU) file. Spectrum News 1 began going through and sharing information earlier this week. Included in the recordings is an interview with Detective Joshua Jaynes, the first time hearing from the officer who secured the search warrant for Taylor's apartment.
"These are our warrants. I mean, we all had a hand in this," Jaynes is heard telling investigators.
Jaynes secured the no-knock search warrant to conduct a raid on Taylor's home. He suspected she was involved in a drug operation going on at another house across town, receiving packages for her ex-boyfriend at her Springfield Drive apartment. However, he told investigators none of the packages received were considered suspicious.
"I believe the end-all-be-all is the post inspector's office or the post office," he commented.
Jaynes said he considered Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, who was at another location, to have been the target of the raid. He said it was understood for the officers executing the search warrant to knock, regardless of the no-knock warrant.
"Springfield is a knock and announce," said Jaynes. Gesturing as if the table where he sat was a map, he pointed, "Our target's down here. We're gonna knock and announce and basically, taking our time. So, our main target, if anybody was gonna get rid of stuff, flushed, we know our main target, if anything was to happen, is, was gonna be [her ex] doing the stuff."
In another recording, former Detective Brett Hankison almost becomes emotional, relaying his side of the story to PIU investigators. He told them he thought the officers trying to help the injured Sgt. Jonathon Mattingly were being executed as gunfire continued. However, the PIU's report seems to uphold Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker's claim he fired only one shot. Reports in the file indicate officers fired approximately 32 shots.
"I can see the flashes, the muzzle flashes. So, at that time I can see that Sgt. Mattingly's down. I believe [officers] are either pulling or dragging him but it sounded like a lot of commotion like they couldn't get...I didn't know if they were getting John...I didn't know if John was down and they couldn't get his body out or if he was- all I could hear was the firing and I saw the flashes. I thought they were just being executed," Hankison said.
Hankison said the officers, including himself, did both knock and announce then, waited for someone to answer the door for about 30-45 seconds. Walker says there were knocks, but there was no announcement.
"Like, all you could hear was a knock at the door," Walker said in his interview with the PIU on the day of the shooting. "Even if somebody was saying something on the other side, you probably couldn't hear 'em. But as loud as we were screaming to see who it is, I know whoever it would be on the other side of the door could hear us. So, that's it. Next thing I know, [Taylor] is on the ground and the door's busted open and I hear a bunch of yelling," he said.
Stay with Spectrum News 1 as we continue to learn more from examining the newly released police files. Our previous coverage can be found here.
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