On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment during the administration of a "no-knock" search warrant by three plainclothes police officers. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly in the leg thinking he was an intruder. In response, Mattingly, Detective Brett Hankison, and Detective Myles Cosgrove fired 32 shots into the apartment. Walker was uninjured, but Taylor was struck six times and died.
On September 23, 2020 a Kentucky grand jury indicted Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for recklessly firing rounds into a neighboring apartment. Mattingly and Cosgrove were not indicted, a move that inflamed racial protests nationwide.
Almost two years after the incident, the criminal trial for Brett Hankison began on February 23, 2022.
This guide is intended to serve as a collection of resources about the criminal case against Hankison and its context, including the public response to Taylor's death.
Photo: "Black Lives (Breonna Taylor) Matter(s) Protest- Brooklyn, NY" by informedImages is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Brett Hankison has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree under Kentucky law:
