Tyler Perry, 51, made the donation in four separate transactions over the weekend on the GoFundMe page, which was created on Kenneth Walker’s behalf ahead of his upcoming legal battle against Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly.
Media mogul Tyler Perry has donated $100,000 to the legal defense fund of Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of slain EMT Breonna Taylor, a source close to the entertainer confirmed to Inside Edition Digital.
Perry, 51, made the donation in four separate installments over the weekend on a GoFundMe page created to help Walker in his upcoming legal battle against Louisville Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, the Daily Mail was the first to report.
Each of the transactions were made within minutes of one another, a feed on GoFundMe shows. There are two transactions for $10,000 each, a third for $50,000 and a fourth and final donation was made for $30,000, totaling $100,000.
The GoFundMe page was set up over a month ago. The intended goal was $100,000, and now thanks to Perry, the total has now surpassed $104,000.
In October, Mattingly filed a lawsuit against Walker. Mattingly alleges in his lawsuit that Walker assaulted him and caused him emotional distress when he opened fire on police during the March 13 raid of Taylor’s Louisville, Kentucky home. He is requesting a jury trial, as well as damages and attorney fees, according to reports.
"Sgt. Mattingly was shot and nearly killed by Kenneth Walker," Mattingly's attorney Kent Wicker told BuzzFeed News. "He's entitled to, and should, use the legal process to seek a remedy for the injury that Walker has caused him.”
Walker initially filed a lawsuit over the summer against several Kentucky officials, saying he opened fire on police in self defense because he believed they were intruders and he didn’t hear them announce themselves on the night of Taylor’s killing.
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, who fired one shot, called 911 during the ordeal and he was informed he'd shot an officer.
Walker was initially charged with attempted murder, but the charges were later dropped. In September, Taylor’s estate reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit with the city for $12 million in damages
Attorney Steve Romines, who represents Walker, told BuzzFeed News in October that the lawsuit filed by Mattingly is “the latest in a cycle of police aggression, deflection of responsibility, and obstruction of the facts in what is an obvious coverup.”
"If Kenny can be sued for defending himself, make no mistake, all lawful gun owners’ rights are at risk. And that should scare everyone," Romines said. "We intend to defend Kenny — once again — from baseless charges intended to harm, intimidate, and cover up the events of March 13, 2020.”
Mattingly said on the night of Taylor's death, he knocked multiple times on Taylor’s door and then said it was the police. Walker, as well as 11 neighbors, said they never heard the police announce themselves.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out to representatives for Walker about the lawsuit and has not heard back.
In September, Taylor’s estate was awarded $12 million by the city in damages. The mayor also announced sweeping police reform.
In documentation previously obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal, 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. Neither Taylor nor her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were the investigation's target. Police had suspected, though, that Taylor’s home was used 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. He was initially charged with attempted murder, but his charges were later dropped after he said he shot in self-defense thinking he and Taylor were victims of a home invasion.
In the wake of Taylor's death, the city has banned "no-knock" warrants.
In June, Hankison 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 currently contesting his termination and has pleaded not guilty. Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who were there when Taylor was killed, have not been charged in connection to the incident. Kentucky’s attorney general has stated that their use of force was justified because Walker fired first.
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