911 call from Breonna Taylor shooting: 'Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend'

CLOSE

Listen to recording of the 911 call made by Kenneth Walker in the immediate aftermath of the fatal police shooting of his girlfriend, Breonna Taylor. Louisville Courier Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Audio of the frantic 911 call made in the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor has been obtained by an attorney for Taylor's family.

Kenneth Walker, 27, is heard crying out Taylor's name as he tries to explain to a dispatcher what happened.

"I don't know what is happening," Walker said. "Somebody kicked in the door and shot my girlfriend."

Sam Aguiar, an attorney for Taylor's family, released the audio to The Courier Journal.

"Listening to that call is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do as an attorney and as a person," Aguiar said. "The call appears to vindicate Kenneth Walker and what he’s been saying all along. He had no idea that police were in the home. His primary concern was the love of his life.

"I couldn’t imagine ever being placed in a situation like that and Kenneth Walker’s character is second to none with how he was handling that horrible situation."

More: The Louisville police union wants an apology from a council member. She's not backing down

More than an hour later, Mayor Greg Fischer released Walker's 911 call along with 19 calls from Taylor's neighbors and police officers.

“I have heard the calls from the community and Council to share whatever facts we can as quickly as we can," Fischer said in a statement. " And, as I have said, I believe that when we get the facts out, justice will follow."

Louisville's dispatch agency, MetroSafe, rejected a Courier Journal records request for the 911 recordings from Taylor's apartment that night. An appeal with the Attorney General's office is pending, and a Metro Council resolution expected to be voted on Thursday evening calls on Mayor Greg Fischer's administration to release the recording. 

"It's important to get as many facts out to the public as possible so that they can digest the information and what did or did not happen — right or wrong — using factual information," Council President David James, D-6th District, told The Courier Journal on Thursday.

Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police officers as they attempted to enter her home on a search warrant relating to a narcotics investigation. Police say they knocked and announced, but Walker said he did not hear police identify themselves and fired a warning shot, striking an officer in the thigh.

When not speaking to the dispatcher, Walker can be heard yelling for help and calling out 'Oh my God!'"

Read this: What to know about the investigations into the police shooting of Breonna Taylor

The dispatcher asks Walker where Taylor was shot.

“I don’t know,” Walker says, crying. “She’s on the ground right now. I don’t know.”

The dispatcher asks if Taylor is awake and able to speak.

"No, she's not," Walker said. "Bree!"

When the dispatcher again asks if Walker knows where Taylor was shot, he says he thinks it was in the stomach.

She then asks if Walker can turn her over and see where she was shot.

Walker describes seeing blood, and cries out again, "Oh my God!"

Walker hangs up the call. Dispatch tries to call back, but there's no answer.

The whole conversation happens in less than three minutes.

More: What we know about Breonna Taylor's boyfriend and why charges against him were dropped

Walker was charged with the attempted murder of a police officer and assault for firing the shot, but prosecutors announced on Friday they were dismissing the charges, citing the need for more evidence.

In snippets of police interviews made public by the Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine on Friday, Walker told police that he called 911 after the shooting took place and before he left the apartment and was arrested. 

He explained in the recording that he called his mother first, who told him to call 911. He described giving the dispatcher his name, location and a brief description of what happened, before hanging up to call Taylor's mother. 

"When I was on the phone with her, that's when I kind of realized that it was the police," Walker said in the recording, before it abruptly cut off.

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.

Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/05/28/breonna-taylor-shooting-911-call-details-aftermath-police-raid/5277489002/