Before she was shot and killed in her bed on March 13, Breonna Taylor was preparing to purchase a house, get married and start a family.

In the wake of protests inspired by her daughter’s death, Tamika Palmer sat down with Vanity Fair to shed light on the life of the 26-year-old EMT.

Palmer said Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were raised as “decent” kids who were discussing spending the rest of their lives together, per the interview released on Monday.

“In the beginning, they were just friends. Even before they got into a relationship, Kenny would say, ‘I’m going to marry her,'” Palmer said. "They had talked about having a baby at some point. And she had just recently started saying, 'Yeah, I think I’m almost ready. I just want to get a house first and then go from there.'"

After dating for five years, Palmer said Walker was waiting for the right time to propose and the couple had discussed raising a family in the future.

Walker was accused of attempted murder after he shot an officer who he thought was an intruder during the no-knock warrant police raid, the Courier Journal reports. He was arrested less than 20 minutes after police shot Taylor, and gave a sworn statement claiming to have fired in self-defense. Charges were dropped against him two months after the shooting.

Walker's parents recollected their son's call from the night of the shooting in an interview with WAVE 3. 

”I lost a piece of my son, and I lost a daughter,” Velicia Walker said of the fatal night.

She also shared that she was more than willing to give away her ring for Walker to propose Taylor.

”[You know in a wedding], something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and I was going to give [a butterfly clip] to her," she told the outlet. 

Taylor's mom said the man who would have been her son-in-law was a funny kid who worked hard. Walker, whom Palmer affectionately calls Kenny throughout the interview, grew up with what she calls "a good upbringing." According to WHAS11, Walker’s father denied rumors his son was a drug dealer and said he was about to start a new job in the post office. 

With some believing Taylor’s case was a “drug bust gone bad,” Palmer said she’s upset with how both Walker and her daughter are being perceived and will work to correct the narrative.

“And I am pissed off because I know how hard Breonna worked. I know that Breonna ain’t about that life. Breonna couldn’t tell you where to buy a dime bag of weed," the grieving mother said. "She isn’t that person on the news. Neither is Kenny. So somebody has to do something. Somebody has to help me."

Palmer said that at an early age, Taylor was a gifted scholar. The 26-year-old shared her mother's love of double Dutch and cars. Palmer said Taylor was most proud of her 2019 Dodge Charger R/T. 

"She was very computer literate. I bought her first computer when she was seven years old and she just loved it. She loved to play double Dutch," she continued. "And as she got older, she loved cars. Yeah, she’s a lot like me. I love older cars. Like a Cutlass and stuff like that. I love Thunderbirds, the old one with the bird on it. Breonna’s absolute favorite was the Dodge Charger."

Vanity Fair will feature Taylor on the magazine's cover of its September issue. The cover portrait was created by Amy Sherald, who also crafted the painting of Michelle Obama for the National Portrait Gallery. 

"She is a sister, daughter, and a hard worker. Those are the kinds of people that I am drawn towards," Sherald said about creating art honoring Taylor. 

ben crumpBreonna Taylorjustice-for-Breonna-TaylorKenneth WalkerTamika-PalmerVanity Fair