Two Louisville, Kentucky, officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor during the execution of a no-knock warrant last year, have been officially terminated, according to a spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Detective Joshua Jaynes, who secured the warrant for the March 13 drug raid, and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who fired the shots at Taylor, according to investigators, received termination letters signed by Police Chief Yvette Gentry. The pair learned that they would be fired on Tuesday.
The detectives are the second and third cops connected to the raid to be fired from the department. Former officer Brett Hankison was fired in June. He has been was charged with wanton endangerment for firing bullets that entered an adjacent apartment.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was killed as officers executed a no-knock warrant at her apartment. None of the three officers who fired shots has been charged in her death.
In the termination letter to Jaynes, Gentry wrote that he had violated department policy. “The evidence in this case revealed a sustained untruthfulness violation based on information included in an affidavit completed by you and submitted to a judge,” the letter reads. “It is my decision to terminate your employment based on that evidence.”
Jaynes had not personally verified that a drug trafficking suspect was receiving mail at Taylor’s address. In seeking the warrant, he did not reveal to the judge that he had not had contact with the U.S. postal inspector. He was not on the scene on the night of the raid.
The department found that Cosgrove violated the use-of force policy and failed to turn on his body camera. Investigators found that Cosgrove fired 16 shots into the apartment, striking Taylor twice, killing her.
“The shots you fired went in three different directions, indicating you did not verify a threat or have target acquisition,” the letter to Cosgrove states.
“In other words, the evidence shows that you fired wildly at unidentified subjects or targets located within the apartment.”
Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who was on the scene the night of the raid, has been on leave with the other two officers and was not fired. He was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who said he believed the officers were criminal intruders.
For months, protestors have called for justice for Taylor, whose death sparked nationwide demonstrations.
