LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal prosecutors highlighted the dangers posed by Brett Hankison when he fired ten shots into Breonna Taylor’s apartment during a police raid, endangering Taylor, her neighbors, and even a fellow officer. This was presented in the opening statements of Hankison’s second federal trial in U.S. District Court in Louisville. Prosecutors aim to establish that Hankison violated the civil rights of Taylor and her neighbors by discharging his weapon through her darkened windows during the incident in 2020. The first trial ended in a hung jury last year, leading to a mistrial.

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old unarmed Black woman, was shot during a police operation in March 2020 when officers forcibly entered her apartment to execute a search warrant. The situation escalated when Taylor’s boyfriend fired at the officers, hitting one in the leg, prompting them to return fire. Her death led to widespread protests against racial injustice throughout the summer of 2020.

Although Hankison’s shots did not injure anyone, prosecutors claimed one of his bullets nearly struck officer Myles Cosgrove, who fired the shot that ultimately killed Taylor. Collectively, three officers discharged a total of 32 rounds during the chaotic raid. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Gotfryd emphasized the recklessness of Hankison’s actions, stating, “Detective Cosgrove was also nearly killed, not by a suspect, but by one of his fellow officers, the defendant.” Both Hankison and Cosgrove were dismissed from the Louisville police department following Taylor’s tragic death.

Gotfryd stressed that Hankison disregarded a fundamental rule of law enforcement: “Don’t shoot at what you can’t see.” She described how Hankison moved to the side of the apartment and fired the shots without clear visibility, putting his fellow officers at risk. This federal trial seeks to achieve what Kentucky state prosecutors failed to accomplish—the conviction of Hankison. In a prior state trial in 2022, he was acquitted of charges regarding the endangerment of Taylor’s neighbors, and no other officers involved in the raid have faced charges.

Hankison’s attorney defended him by suggesting that he was a part of a poorly executed raid aimed at garnering overtime pay and had brought his K-9 drug detection dog along for the operation. “Brett Hankison didn’t have a hand in any of this. He’s there with a drug detection dog to search an apartment,” attorney Jack Byrd argued. The defense posited that Hankison’s decision to shoot was motivated by a desire to protect his colleagues. Byrd stated that Hankison perceived a figure in the apartment, believing he saw someone advancing towards him when he fired.

In the ongoing proceedings, Hankison could face a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted of the federal charges against him. On the witness stand, Myles Cosgrove provided his account of the raid, describing how he found himself in a “gunfight” with the individual inside the apartment after he stepped over a fellow officer, Jonathan Mattingly, who had been shot in the leg. Investigators later confirmed that Cosgrove discharged 16 rounds during the incident, which included the shot that killed Taylor.

Cosgrove recounted several of Hankison’s rounds passing close to his position and noted that he only later realized how perilous the situation had become. When asked if moving a step further could have put him in direct danger, he affirmed, “Yes.” Additionally, a neighbor of Taylor’s, Chelsey Napper, testified about the terror experienced that night as bullets tore through her apartment, which shares a wall with Taylor’s. Awakened by a loud bang, she recounted, “I was scared to death; I didn’t know what was going on, I was panicking.” Napper displayed the wounds left in her apartment from the gunfire, noting that her sliding glass door had been shattered, likely from Hankison’s shots. She also revealed that she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder since the incident.

The selection of jurors took around three days last week, with careful procedures enacted by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings to ensure their identities remained confidential.