Kenneth “Kenny” Walker, boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, is suing for immunity from charges related to the warning shot he fired during the botched police raid that left the 26-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, woman shot to death in her apartment this past March.
Walker’s legal team filed a lawsuit against several parties on Tuesday, reported WLKY. The defendants include state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, 13 Louisville police officers, former police Chief Steve Conrad and interim police Chief Rob Schroeder, and the Louisville metro government.
Taylor died in March after Louisville Metro Police stormed her apartment. The police showed up to the apartment around midnight to execute a no-knock warrant related to a drug case surrounding Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
On Monday, WDRB reported a plea deal offered to Glover named Taylor as a co-conspirator in his “organized crime syndicate.” It was widely reported the admission would give him a shot at freedom but Scott Barton, Glover’s lawyer, told NPR that wasn’t true. Every deal presented to Glover included a 10-year prison sentence but the lawyer noted his client “immediately rejected anything with her name in it.”
“It wasn’t like there was an incentive” Barton stated. “Like if Glover puts her name in there, then we’ll give you a better deal. It was the same deal regardless.”
Taylor and Walker were in bed watching a movie when the police arrived at the apartment complex. When they heard someone at their door, the court papers state, Taylor asked who was at the door three times but she did not receive a response.
“The couple started walking out of the bedroom when the front door flew open in the darkness,” the lawsuit read. “Kenny immediately reacted by firing a single shot to scare away the intruder or intruders.”
One officer was hit in the leg and the police responded with gunfire. Taylor was hit five times but Walker was unharmed. He was taken into police custody and charged the next day with attempted murder. The charges were later dropped without prejudice, meaning there is a possibility Walker could be charged again.
The lawsuit argues Walker had a right to fire his weapon under Kentucky’s “stand your ground” law, which “protects all Kentuckians who seek to protect themselves of loved ones in self-defense. Kentuckians have no duty to retreat or submit to force.”
Walker and his attorneys announced the lawsuit during a news conference on the day of the filing.
“I was raised by a good family. I am a legal gun owner and I would never knowingly shoot at a police officer,” he said during the conference.
Walker believes the police charged him with attempted murder “to silence me and cover up Breonna’s murder.”
“For her and those that I love, I can no longer remain silent,” he added.
Steven Romines, one of Walker’s lawyers, tied the Glover deal to Walker’s plight.
“It is still six months later, and they’re trying to determine what happened in that apartment. They arrested Kenny for what they say happened after about three hours,” Romines said. “The reason why is because that fit their narrative and using the criminal justice system to try to justify shooting of Breonna Taylor is what this complaint is about. And we’re watching it in real time every day. What we saw yesterday with the Glover plea is the same thing.”
