Louisville cops repeatedly told Breonna Taylor was not receiving suspicious packages tied to drug investigation, report says
Louisville police officers carried out a no-knock raid at the home of Breonna Taylor despite the fact that they were repeatedly told there were no packages, “suspicious or otherwise,” delivered to the residence that could be tied to their drug investigation, according to a new report.
The 26-year-old EMT was fatally shot March 13 after three Louisville Metropolitan Police officers burst into her apartment to execute a search warrant linked to a narcotics probe into her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison returned fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a “warning” shot. He later told authorities he thought someone was trying to break in.
Taylor was struck at least six times in the chaos and died in her apartment hallway. No drugs were found at the home.
One day before the deadly raid, Detective Joshua Jaynes said he had “verified through a US Postal Inspector that Glover has been receiving packages” at Taylor’s home. But testimony from an internal LMPD report, obtained by WDRB on Thursday, has cast doubt on Jaynes’ claim.
According to the Public Integrity Unit report, officers requested Shively police Sgt. Timothy Salyer and Detective Mike Kuzma question the postal inspector, who in turn said there were no packages being sent to Taylor’s home.
The Shivley officers were enlisted because LMPD no longer works with the Postal Service as a result of an unspecified dispute from a few years earlier, according to the report.
In a follow-up interview with the unit on May 18, Salyer said he reached out to Mattingly, who was wounded in the raid, about the warrant affidavit in wake of the shooting.
“Sgt. Mattingly stated he told Detective Jaynes there was no package history at that address,” Salyer told investigators, according to a summary of the interview.
Salyer said he was again contacted by two LMPD officers at the end of January, this time by Detective Mike Nobles and Detective Kelly Hanna, about any packages going to Taylor’s home, WDBR reported. He said he “told them the same information,” according to the summary.
Jefferson Circuit Judge Mary Shaw, who signed the search warrant for Taylor’s home, has since expressed concern that she was misled by officers in the investigation. Despite the worry, she told the Courier Journal on Thursday she would defer to the FBI investigation.
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