An internal investigation report summary obtained by WDRB appears to contradicts the information given by police to a judge who approved the “no knock” warrant on Taylor’s Louisville, Kentucky, home on March 13.
Testimony given in connection with an internal investigation report claims Louisville police were told before arriving at Breonna Taylor’s home with a no-knock warrant on March 13 that no packages, "suspicious or otherwise," connected to a drug investigation they were pursuing, were ever delivered there, WDRB reported.
Taylor was killed after gunfire erupted in and outside of her apartment when cops entered to execute the search warrant.
The internal investigation report summary obtained by WDRB appears to contradict the information given by a detective to a judge who approved the “no-knock” warrant on Taylor’s Louisville, Kentucky, home on March 13. Taylor was fatally shot after three Louisville officers burst into her apartment to execute the search warrant.
On March 12, in an affidavit for the warrant, police claimed Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, a suspect in a drug investigation, used Taylor’s address as his home address and was seen picking up a package from her apartment on Jan. 16 before driving to a “known drug house,” according to WDRB. Louisville police Detective Joshua Jaynes said he had “verified through a U.S. Postal Inspector” that the suspect was “receiving packages” at her home, according to published reports. Cops allegedly said that the claim of the packages going to Taylor’s residence was enough to allow them to obtain the warrant to search Taylor’s home.
But an investigative report from LMPD's Public Integrity Unit contains testimony indicating that the postal inspector had previously told two members of the Shively Police Department there were no packages, “suspicious or otherwise,” being delivered to Taylor's home, WDRB reported.
In an interview with the integrity unit in May, Shively Police Sgt. Timothy Salyer said that Louisville Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, one of the officers at Taylor's home the night she was fatally shot, reached out to Salyer and another Shively police officer in January at Jaynes’ request because the Shively Police had a good relationship with the U.S. postal inspector in Louisville, Tony Gooden, WDRB reported. Sayler also reportedly told investigators that “the postal service does not want to work with LMPD” after an incident between officers and postal workers a few years before.
On March 13, police were authorized to carry out a “no-knock” warrant on Taylor’s Louisville home on March 13 as part of a narcotics investigation of a person who lived in a home 10 miles away, according to documentation previously obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal. Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were the investigation's target. Police had suspected, though, that Taylor’s home was used by Glover to receive drugs.
Authorities said they identified themselves, despite the “no-knock” warrant. Police said the officers were “immediately” met by gunfire when they entered Taylor and Walker's home, at which point they returned fire.
Walker called 911 during the ordeal and he was informed he'd shot an officer, later identified as Mattingly. Walker was initially charged with attempted murder, but the charges were later dropped after he said he shot on bullet in self-defense thinking he and Taylor were victims of a home invasion. No drugs were found in Taylor’s apartment.
Sometime after Taylor's killing, Salyer told the Public Integrity Unit that he spoke with Mattingly, according to WDRB.
“Sgt. Mattingly stated he told Detective Jaynes there was no package history at that address,” Salyer reportedly told investigators.
Salyer also said he was contacted a month after Taylor’s shooting again about the packages by Jaynes, according to WDRB.
“[Salyer] told Detective Jaynes there were no packages in months delivered to the address and the location was flagged if any were detected and the Postal Inspector would be notified,” according to the summary.
Jaynes, according to the summary, asked Sayler if Glover was getting “mail matter,” to which Sayler said he would look into it.
“Sgt. Sayler was confused as to why Detective Jaynes contacted him almost a month after the shooting incident inquiring about packages being delivered to the address,” according to the summary obtained by WDRB.
Gooden, the postal inspector, told WDRB in May that LMPD did not use their office to verify if Glover was getting packages delivered to Taylor's apartment.
Gooden said a different law enforcement agency asked his office in January to investigate whether Taylor's home was receiving any potentially suspicious mail. After looking into the request, he said, the local office concluded that it wasn't, according to WDRB.
"There's no packages of interest going there," Gooden told WDRB in May.
Lt. Col. Josh Myers, assistant chief of police and public information officer of Shively Police Department, told Inside Edition Digital "our people were instructed to cooperate fully and we will cooperate fully" in the investigations into Taylor's death.
"Our involvement was minimal in the Louisville Metro case," Myers said. "Our city sits inside the boundaries of Louisville Metro and we work closely with their special units. Because we have a relationship with the postal inspector they reached out to us and asked us to check with the postal inspector, we did, and informed them no packages had been received."
LMPD declined to comment on the investigation. “We have not released the investigation and we are not making any comments at this time, due to our ongoing internal investigation,” LMPD said in a statement to Inside Edition Digital.
Neither Mattingly's attorney, nor the police union River City FOP, responded to Inside Edition Digital's requests for comment.
In September, Taylor’s estate was awarded $12 million by the city in damages. The mayor also announced sweeping police reform.
In the wake of Taylor's death, the city has banned "no-knock" warrants.
No officers have been charged for Taylor’s killing. Jaynes was reassigned in June. In June, Officer Brett Hankison, one of the officers there the night Taylor was killed, was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department. He has also been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for bullets that hit an apartment of one of Taylor’s neighbors. He is contesting his termination and has pleaded not guilty. Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove whose bullets hit Taylor have not been charged. Kentucky’s attorney general has stated that their use of force was justified because Walker fired first.
RELATED STORIES
