The night police entered Breonna Taylor’s apartment and shot her while she slept, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, had his life turned upside down. Not only was his girlfriend killed, he was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a police officer for trying to defend himself and his loved one. And though those charges have been dropped, he’s now filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, Louisville Metro government, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, 13 Louisville police officers, former Chief Steve Conrad and interim Chief Rob Schroeder.
"Kenny continues to reel from the death of the love of his life, but he is also the victim and survivor of police misconduct – misconduct that threatens his freedom to this day," the lawsuit states.
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As part of the suit, Walker’s legal team is asking that he be declared “immune” from prosecution under the state of Kentucky’s “stand your ground” law, which entitles a person to use lethal force in defence of themselves or their loved ones if they believe their lives are in danger.
In this case, Walker has stated that he shot at police officers when they entered Taylor’s apartment in the middle of the night using a no-knock warrant because he thought they were intruders and he was afraid. Officers fired back almost 20 rounds of shots, ultimately killing 26-year-old Taylor who was asleep at the time.
"It scared me when the door got kicked like that,” WLKY reports Walker told investigators. “So that was my only reaction was to do that. I'm trying to protect her, like, she doesn't have a gun.” While officers claim they knocked several times before entering the apartment, Walker says that’s not true and they never announced or identified themselves. The officers have not been arrested for Taylor's death, though her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, was taken into custody in relation to the case.
Officers have claimed they entered Taylor’s apartment believing her to be part of a drug ring associated with Glover. Glover’s attorneys told the press this week that police offered him a plea deal to say that Taylor had been part of an “organised crime syndicate,” which they suspect is an attempt to create justification for the police raid that killed her. Walker continues to remain unrelated to the original investigation.
"The bottom line is this," attorney Steven Romines said at a news conference. "On that night, Kenny Walker was 27 years old... Kenny had never been in trouble in his life. And the police want you to believe that at almost 1 o'clock one evening, he says, 'My first foray into the criminal justice world, I'm gonna try to shoot a cop.' It's a ridiculous position."
Walker, too, believes police are targeting and charging him in order to pull blame for Taylor’s death away from the officers themselves. "The charges brought against me were meant to silence me and cover up Breonna's murder," Walker said at a news conference Tuesday. "For her and those that I love, I can no longer remain silent."
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