One of the Louisville cops who busted in Breonna Taylor’s home on a no-knock warrant now says she would be alive had they not given the boyfriend enough time to retrieve his gun.
In retrospect, Louisville Metropolitan Police Officer John Mattingly says waiting so long to bust in Taylor’s apartment provided the boyfriend, licensed gun owner Kenneth Walker, ample time to find and aim his handgun at the door.
Mattingly was allegedly struck in the leg when Walker fired his weapon after the trio of officers smashed through Taylor’s apartment at 1 a.m. on March 13.
“We expected that Breonna was going to be there by herself. That’s why we gave her so much time. And in my opinion that was a mistake,” Mattingly, 47, told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan.
As it has been reported ad nauseam, the officers returned fire after Walker shot one of the officers, killing Taylor on the scene with at least eight shots.
Mattingly told Strahan that he does feel bad for Taylor and her surviving family.
“I feel for her. I hurt for her mother and for her sisters,” said Mattingly. “It’s not just a passing ‘Oh, this is part of the job, we did it and move on.’ It’s not like that. I mean Breonna Taylor is now attached to me for the rest of my life. And that’s not again, ‘Woe is me.’ That’s me feeling for them. That’s me having a heart and a soul, going as a parent, ‘How do you move on?’ I don’t know. I don’t want to experience it.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron surmised in his investigation that, since Walker fired the first shot, the three officers were justified in returning fire to defend themselves. Cameron did not give the grand jury the option to indict the officers on homicide charges because he said it was not warranted.
Mattingly said his family has gone into hiding because of the barrage of death threats. He added that Taylor’s death will hang over his head for the rest of his life.
Flip the page to listen to Mattingly’s interview on “Good Morning America” in full:
