Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend will speak publicly for the first time about the night his girlfriend was fatally wounded as police executed a warrant at her home, revealing he’s “a million percent sure” officers did not identify themselves before entering.
Kenneth Walker told CBS’ Gayle King he grabbed his legally owned gun because he “didn’t have a clue” who was at the apartment the morning of March 13, according to a preview of his upcoming interview.
“If it was the police at the door and they just said, ‘We’re the police,’ me or Breonna didn’t have a reason at all not to open the door to see what they wanted,” Walker said, in a segment slated to air Wednesday morning.
The question of whether police identified themselves before entering the Louisville, Ky., home in March has been disputed, with law enforcement officials saying they did announce themselves before ramming the door and entering.
However, some witnesses, and Walker, said they didn’t hear police identify themselves.
“I never thought it was the police – because why would the police be coming here?” he told King in the teaser.
Taylor, 26, a Black woman and emergency medical worker, was shot six times inside her apartment when police showed up to execute the warrant approved as part of a narcotics investigation. No drugs reportedly were found at her home.
For months, the raid was characterized in reports and by officials as the execution of a “no-knock warrant,” meaning law enforcement officers could enter without knocking or announcing themselves. But Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron later clarified that officers did knock, according to at least one neighbor.
In previously released grand jury audio, Walker said he heard knocking, but that police did not respond when he and Taylor repeatedly asked who was there. According to the recordings, he told police he grabbed his gun, and they both walked toward the door.
“She’s yelling at the top of her lungs, and I am too at this point. No answer. No response. No nothing,” Walker said, according to the grand jury recordings.
While Walker told police he did not hear officers identify themselves, he also said he doubted he could have, considering the couple was at the opposite end of a long hallway, according to the audio.
Police said they used a battering ram to enter, hitting the door three times before getting inside.
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Walker fired once, hitting Sgt. Jon Mattingly in the leg.
Mattingly, officer Brett Hankison, who has since been fired, and Detective Myles Cosgrove then returned fire; Taylor was fatally shot six times, Cameron said.
According to the Associated Press, Walker initially told police that Taylor was the one who shot at them, but later said he fired.
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Hankison was the only officer indicted by the grand jury, which charged him with wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighboring home with people inside. He has pleaded not guilty.
None of the officers was indicted on charges connected with Taylor’s death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
