Brett Hankison, the former officer who was indicted on wanton endangerment charges in the Breonna Taylor case, told investigators that Taylor's boyfriend originally claimed that she was the one who opened fire on the officers during his grand jury testimony.
About 20 hours of audio from the grand jury proceedings was released on Friday, one week after three officers were cleared of homicide charges in Breonna Taylor's death. Hankison told investigators that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said Taylor shot at the cops before changing his story and taking the blame.
On the night of Taylor's death, three cops used a no-knock warrant to search her apartment for drugs but none were ever found.
The police gave their account of the raid to the grand jury and claimed they knocked repeatedly before the first officer entered the apartment and was shot. The officers claimed they announced themselves and knocked for 30 to 90 seconds before using a battering ram to enter the apartment.
Walker said that he did not hear the police announce themselves and only opened fire because he thought they were intruders.
Breonna Taylor's boyfriend told investigators conducting an internal police review that Taylor asked once who was there and heard no response. Walker said at that point he grabbed his legally registered gun and they both started screaming but still received no response. According to Walker, once the couple got out of bed and started walking towards the door, it was knocked down and that's when he let off a shot before more gunfire ensued and resulted in Taylor's death.
Hankison has pleaded not guilty to his charges.
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