The Louisville Metro Police Department on Tuesday fired one of the three officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, the most significant action yet in a case that has drawn public outrage for the killing and the fact that no criminal charges have been filed.
In a termination letter posted to the department’s Twitter account, Chief Robert Schroeder accused the former officer, Brett Hankison, of violating its policy on the use of deadly force, saying he “wantonly and blindly” fired 10 shots into Ms. Taylor’s apartment on March 13.
After Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend shot one officer in the leg as they broke down her door during a drug raid, the officers returned fire and killed Ms. Taylor, 26.
Questions about Ms. Taylor’s death intensified after George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis police in May. Weeks of protests in Louisville, Ky., followed, and Mayor Greg Fischer banned no-knock warrants.
Officials have not brought charges against Mr. Hankison or the two other officers at Ms. Taylor’s apartment, where no drugs were found. Those officers, Jon Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, have been placed on administrative reassignment.
Details of the shooting took months to emerge, but recent revelations from the Police Department suggest that Mr. Hankison acted recklessly by shooting through a patio door and window that had an obstructed view. Some of the rounds he fired went into a neighbor’s apartment and endangered the lives of three people there, according to Tuesday’s letter.
Chief Schroeder wrote that Mr. Hankison’s conduct was “a shock to the conscience” and that his actions discredited the Police Department.
The city’s former police chief, Steve Conrad, was fired this month after the police shot and killed a business owner during protests over Ms. Taylor’s death. Officers did not activate their body cameras during that encounter or during the raid that ended in Ms. Taylor’s death.
Ms. Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot at least eight times when the police tried to serve a no-knock warrant, which allows officers to enter people’s homes without identifying themselves.
The police said they did announce themselves in Ms. Taylor’s case, but her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he did not hear their warnings.
Lonita Baker, one of three lawyers representing Ms. Taylor’s family, said last week that the decision to charge Mr. Hankison lies with Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron.
Mr. Hankison has 10 days to appeal his firing.
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