No Murder Charges in Breonna Taylor Case, 1 Officer Indicted for Wanton Endangerment

Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville police in March during a “no-knock” raid

Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer
Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor, poses for a portrait in front of a mural of her daughter at Jefferson Square Park in Louisville on September 21. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)

A Kentucky grand jury declined to bring murder charges in the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical worker who was killed by police in March during a botched “no-knock” raid. Instead, former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was indicted on Wednesday on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment.

The two other officers involved in the botched raid, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, were not charged at all.

Judge Annie O’Connell, who announced the charges, said Hankison “wantonly shot a gun” into three apartments but did not say Taylor was the occupant of one of those apartments. The indictment essentially charges Hankison for the endangerment of Taylor’s neighbors, but not for the shooting of Taylor herself.

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