LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One of the three Louisville police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor is being fired.
The city’s mayor, Greg Fischer, announced Friday that the police department is initiating termination procedures against officer Brett Hankison, 44.
“Unfortunately, due to a provision in state law that I very much would like to see changed, both the Chief and I are precluded from talking about what brought us to this moment, or even the timing of this decision,” the mayor said in a statement.
According to a termination letter obtained by WLKY, Hankison was informed of his firing Friday morning.
The other two officers involved in the fatal shooting, 47-year-old Jon Mattingly and 42-year-old Myles Cosgrove, remain with the department, but have been placed on administrative reassignment, the Courier Journal reports.
As part of a narcotics investigation, the officers used a battering ram to knock down Breonna Taylor’s door as they served a no-knock warrant in the early morning hours of March 13.
During the incident, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, has said that he thought the officers were intruders and fired a warning shot. The officers returned fire, shooting Taylor eight times, and she died in the hall of her apartment. No drugs were found.
Thursday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron held a press conference, where he asked for patience from the public as his office investigates the shooting.
Taylor's death is one of a handful of African Americans who have died at the hands of police officers or former police officers in 2020. The killings have prompted massive protests calling for an end to police brutality across the country.
