ONE of the three Kentucky police officers who fired deadly shots into Breonna Taylor’s apartment is set to be fired.
Brett Hankison – who was previously suspended from the Louisville police force for his involvement in the 26-year-old EMT nurse’s death – will lose his job, Mayor Greg Fischer announced Friday.
Taylor was shot eight times as cops had been executing a “no-knock’” search warrant back in March.
Termination procedures have been initiated Friday against the Louisville Metro Police Officer by LMPD Chief Rob Schroeder.
“Chief Schroeder is today initiating termination procedures against Louisville Metro police officer Brett Hankison,” Mayor Greg Fischer, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, said.
Despite the announcement, Fischer wasn’t able to comment more.
He added: “Unfortunately, due to a provision in state law that I would very much 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.”
Taylor’s attorney’s revealed the were “pleased” to hear of Hankison’s firing, in a statement published Friday, according to ABC News.
“We look forward to them terminating the other officers involved in Bre’s murder,” the attorney’s said.
“We also look forward to these officers being prosecuted for their roles in her untimely death.”
According to WHAS11, Hankison’s termination letter explains the cop violated protocol when he shot 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment during a search warrant.
“I have determined you violated Standard Operating Procedure…when your actions displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life when you wantonly and blindly fired ten rounds into the apartment of Breonna Taylor,” the letter reads.
“In fact the ten rounds you fired were into a patio door and window which were covered with material that completely prevented you from verifying any person as an immediate threat or more importantly any innocent persons present.”
In the Friday letter, Schroeder said he found Hankison’s conduct “a shock to the conscience.”
He added: “I am alarmed and stunned you used deadly force in this fashion.”
“The result of your action seriously impedes the Department’s goal of providing the citizens of our city with the most professional law enforcement agency possible.
“I cannot tolerate this type of conduct by any member of the Louisville Metro Police Department. Your conduct demands your termination.”
After Taylor’s shooting, Hankison and two other Louisville officers – Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Officer Myles Cosgrove – were placed on administrative leave while the department investigates their actions.
The 26-year-old frontline medic, who had no criminal history, was shot dead at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13.
After Taylor’s death, Benjamin Crump, an attorney for her family, released further details about her death.
In a Facebook Live video, Crump said: “Police just unloaded 25 to 30 rounds.
“I mean they’re shooting from the front door, they’re shooting from the window, they’re shooting from the patio.
“They’re so reckless, that they shoot a bullet into the next door neighbor’s apartment where their five-year-old daughter is asleep in her room.”
On the night of her death, cops were looking for suspect Jamarcus Glover, who allegedly dated Breonna two years ago.
But the man was arrested in a separate raid ten miles away on the same night officers broke into her apartment.
Breonna’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker – who was not the man wanted by cops – fired one shot with his legally held weapon, claiming he thought they were burglars.
Three officers returned fire with a hail of bullets that killed front line medic Breonna.
Recently, Taylor’s family attorneys said the nurse was “mutilated with bullet holes while in her underwear.”
Hankison’s termination comes just a few days after Beyonce posted a powerful open letter to her website and called for “swift and decisive action” after the 26-year-old black woman was fatally shot in March.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Hankison is being investigated for sexual assault after two women separately made claims against him on social media.
The allegations, raised by two women who posted their alleged experiences on Facebook – are yet to be verified.
A woman named Margo Borders posted an account from April 2018, claiming that Hankison sexually assaulted her in her own apartment, while she was unconscious.
Meanwhile, Emily Terry posted another account on Instagram last week, claiming that Hankinson assaulted her in fall 2019.
The plaintiff in the federal suit described Hankinson as a “dirty cop” with a “vendetta” in court documents.
Hankison has denied the allegations.
