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Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenny Walker, talked in-depth about the night his girlfriend was shot and killed by police on the new episode of Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk.
Taylor and Walker were in their apartment on the night of March 13, 2020, when Louisville Metro Police executed a no-knock warrant on the residence. Upon bursting into the apartment, Walker — believing it was an intruder — fired a shot; police responded by firing more than 20 bullets into the apartment, killing Taylor. It was later revealed that police, searching for a drug dealer, executed the no-knock warrant on an address unrelated to the suspect.
Speaking to Red Table Talk, Walker — the only witness to Taylor’s shooting — provided a detailed account of the incident.
After Taylor was shot, with Walker still seeking shelter in the apartment, he said, “The only way for her to possibly even get some help is if I go outside. So either they’re gonna shoot and kill me and then come help her, or they’re gonna talk to me and then come help her. Either way, I have to come outside.”
Police surveillance footage uncovered by Red Table Talk showed Walker’s interaction with police, who demanded that he walk backward and comply even as he pleaded with them that Taylor was shot. “What is this about? We’re both just regular working people!” Walker told the police.
Walker added that it wasn’t until hours later when he was being processed for attempted murder for firing at police (the charges were later dropped), that he learned of Taylor’s death.
“Now I’m knowing what they’re probably accusing me of at this point, so I’m scared,” Walker said. “They’re trying to ask me questions about me, and I’m like, ‘Listen, I’ll get to that. Where is Breonna? Is Breonna OK? Is she alive?’ Nobody is answering my questions. So I had to find out what happened on the news, sitting in jail. They didn’t say her name, but they said a woman was killed. That’s how I found out.”
In August, the FBI arrested Joshua Jaynes, the former Louisville Metro Police detective who was first reassigned to administrative duty and later fired for lying on the search warrant connected to the fatal raid on Taylor’s home. Three others were also arrested, including Brett Hankison, the only officer to face state charges in the case; he was later acquitted.
Jaynes was previously fired in January 2021 for what was found to be an untruthful statement in his sworn affidavit for the warrant search of Taylor’s apartment. In the affidavit, he wrote that he had verified via a U.S. Postal Inspector that Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug dealer, was using Taylor’s apartment to have drugs delivered. No drugs were found in her home. However, Jaynes’ information came from another officer, Jonathan Mattingly; neither had verification from the postal inspector.
Hankison, along with another officer Myles Cosgrove — both of whom fired their weapons during the raid — were fired for their roles in Taylor’s death. Cosgrove and Mattingly did not face any state charges; Mattingly later resigned.
