The Kentucky State Police and lawyers in the Breonna Taylor case are disputing much of what was said during last week's press conference by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.
A ballistics report from the Kentucky State Police obtained by the Louisville Courier-Journal says it is still unclear who shot sergeant Jonathan Mattingly on the night of March 13.
While announcing that no charges would not be filed for Taylor's killing — rather the homes that ex-detective Brett Hankinson shot into — Cameron said his office had confirmed that Mattingly was not hit with "friendly fire" and that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was confirmed as the shooter.
The determination was made because Walker was the only person with a 9mm handgun while all of the officers at the scene had .40 caliber handguns.
But the Kentucky State Police ballistics report stated that because of limited markings of comparative value, the bullet which struck Mattingly was neither identified nor eliminated as having been fired by Walker.
The new information coincides with information shared by Walker's lawyer, Steve Romines, who appeared on CNN and said Hankinson, who was also fired for shooting wildly that night, was also given a 9mm handgun before the raid.
For weeks, Walker has said he only fired a warning shot after he and Taylor woke up to hearing loud banging on their door that night.
During the press conference last week, Cameron based the entire justification for Taylor's death on Walker having shot Mattingly first.
Even during the press conference, reporters disputed a variety of claims made by Cameron, most of which he ignored or deflected. But in the days since his speech, multiple news outlets and lawyers have released damning information that directly conflicts with what he told the public.
He reiterated to the press that there was no bodycam footage, yet just one day later a lawyer for Mattingly released bodycam footage from directly after he was shot to local news outlet Wave3. The lawyer also posted the footage to Twitter but quickly deleted it.
VICE News also published other bodycam footage from the night, despite months of claims from city officials that there was no video footage at all that night.
The Louisville Courier-Journal sent Cameron 13 more questions about the new information that conflicts with what he said, but he has not responded.
In their examination of multiple bodycam videos, VICE reporters laid out a number of police department violations which took place that night after Taylor was shot. Despite being involved in the shooting, Hankinson can be seen walking around the crime scene, making the other SWAT team officers visibly upset, according to VICE. He is eventually told to leave the crime scene.
"Investigators observed Detective Hankison walking in and out of the primary scene. At 0200 hours Sergeant Wilder and I verbally requested Hankison to remove himself from the primary scene and make contact with members of LMPD Peer Support,” Sgt. Jason Vance wrote in a report seen by VICE.
“It should be noted investigators later learned Detective Hankison deviated from standard LMPD practices for an officer involved in a critical incident and left the scene location without his assigned LMPD Peer Support escort. Hankison deviated from the standard protocol when he traveled unattended to University of Louisville Hospital having contact with CID command and Police Chief Steve Conrad,” the report continued.
According to VICE, Lieutenant Dale Massey testified in May that he and other officers were concerned when they saw Hankison and Cosgrove still being involved in the crime scene despite firing their weapons that night.
“[Cosgrove] had a rifle slung, so I assumed just having a rifle slung that he was there after the fact….while we’re on scene, we learned that Cosgrove’s involved in it. I was, like, ‘Man, get him outta the mix.’ Cause he was still in the mix doing stuff. I was, like, 'Get him separated from everybody,'” he told investigators.
“I do remember saying ‘Hey, separate him. He’s involved. He was way too up in the mix, you know,’” Massey added.
VICE even obtained footage of officers arresting Walker and threatening to let dogs attack him.
Former Louisville Metro Police Department chief Steve Conrad, who was fired by the mayor because he said there was no bodycam footage from that night, told investigators that he was confused when he saw Hankinson at the hospital where Mattingly was being treated for his gunshot wound.
Conrad said he was surprised.
"[It was] just so contrary from what I've seen in previous officer involved shootings," Conrad said, according to the interviews obtained by VICE.
It is not explained why, and investigators curiously did not delve into this, but Major Kim Burbrink spoke with Hankinson that night and relayed her conversation with him to Conrad. Hankinson allegedly told Burbrink he was afraid of losing his job but did not say why.