Former Louisville police officer, Brett Hankinson, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment on Wednesday, September 26, 2020 for the shooting that occurred in early March 2020 after he and two other officers discharged 32 bullets into Breonna Taylor’s apartment , six of which struck and killed her. 

Many, all over the country, are questioning the charges against Hankinson. A lawsuit against the police officers claimed that the officers never identified themselves as police, before they broke through the door with a battering ram. The LMPD did issue a no knock warrant on this address, but the person they were looking for was already in police custody.

In a termination letter to Hankinson, Interim Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder called Hankinson’s actions “an extreme indifference to the value of human life”. He went on to write, “I find your conduct a shock to the conscience”. 

The termination comes before Hankinson was charged for three counts of wanton endangerment for the bullets that damaged the other apartments adjacent to the scene of the crime. Hankinson was not charged for the bullets that hit Taylor. 

“It doesn’t even sound like her death was considered,” Jefferson County D.A. Lynneice Washington said in an interview with local news.

A witness told reporters, “No, nobody identified themselves.” 

The LMPD called it a no knock warrant, which gives them the right to enter without identifying themselves, but they contradicted that by stating that the officers, “knocked on the door several times and announced their presence as police who were there with a search warrant”. 

Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove are the two other police officers that were at the scene that night. Mattingly was shot in the leg by Kenneth Walker III, Taylor’s boyfriend, after he thought the three police officers were intruders, and Hankinson began to fire back. 

Mattingly described Hankinson as, “a little worked up,” in a court hearing. Hankinson instinctively fired ten rounds of ammunition into the apartment, and six shots hit Breonna Taylor while she was in her bed. Hankinson reportedly pointed his gun at bystanders from neighboring apartments, after they told him to “leave that girl alone”.  

Brett Hankinson was terminated on June 23rd of this year by interim Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder, and the other two officers have been placed on administrative leave since the shooting happened in March. 

Brett Hankison will appear in court again, on October 28th, 2020.