Breona Taylor

Breonna Taylor was killed in Louisville, Kentucky, United States during a Louisville Metro Police Department raid on March 13, 2020. The city of Louisville will pay the family of the late African-American emergency room technician $12 million as a settlement for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Louisville mayor Greg Fischer announced the settlement during a press conference on September 15, 2020. Taylor’s family attorney Sam Aguilar told CNN, “The city’s response in this case has been delayed and it’s been frustrating but the fact that they’ve been willing to sit down and talk significant reform was a step in the right direction and hopefully a turning point.”

A full-time ER technician for the University of Louisville Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Taylor died at the age of 26. She was with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, 27, in their apartment in southwest Jefferson County in Kentucky when they were raided by Louisville Metro Police Department officers Jonathan Mattingly, 47, Brett Hankison, 44, and Myles Cosgrove, 42.

During the raid, Mattingly, Hankison and Cosgrove were not wearing body cameras because they were using a no-knock warrant, which was obtained by LMPD detective Joshua Jaynes. They were conducting an investigation centered on Jamarcus Cordell Glover and Adrian Orlandes Walker, who is not related to Kenneth.

Glover dated Taylor in 2018 and they remained friends after their breakup. He and Adrian were suspected of selling drugs in a Russell neighborhood house on Elliott Avenue, which was more than 10 miles from Taylor’s apartment.

With a battering ram, Mattingly, Hankison and Cosgrove entered the apartment. Taylor and Kenneth thought they were being broken into since the three LMPD cops were not in uniform.

A licensed gun owner, Kenneth wanted to protect Taylor so he grabbed a gun and fired in self-defense, hitting Mattingly in the leg. In response, the three cops blindly fired at least 22 gunshots into the building, some of which entered other apartments.

During the raid, no drugs were found and Taylor died in the hall of the apartment after being shot eight times. Mattingly, Hankison, Cosgrove and Jaynes were not arrested.