Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly was hit in the femoral artery by a 9mm round after breaching Breonna Taylor's apartment. No officers on scene fired a 9mm, police say. (Photo: Louisville Metro PD)
Firearms experts say a ballistics report from Kentucky State Police shows Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend fired the shot that wounded a Louisville officer and prompted police to return fire, killing Taylor.
The authorities said the four-page report dismisses the theory that Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly was hit by "friendly fire" from his own officers and supports Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s conclusion that the 9 mm round that severed Mattingly's femoral artery came from the gun fired by Kenneth Walker.
The ballistics report, part of the investigative file released Wednesday by Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, shows that only one 9 mm bullet and cartridge casing was found at Taylor's apartment. Walker had previously acknowledged firing one shot from his legally-owned Glock 9 mm handgun, Yahoo News reports.
Anti-police activists and Walker' s attorneys have claimed that Mattingly was shot by another officer involved in the raid
One of Walker’s attorneys, Steve Romines, said personnel records show fired Officer Brett Hankison was also issued a 9 mm pistol and may have used it during the search, shooting Mattingly.
Official reports say the officers only fired .40 caliber pistols during the incident.
Charles Stephenson, a Kansas City-based firearms instructor and security consultant who is a former FBI agent, said in an email to the Courier-Journal that the recovery of a single 9mm bullet at the crime scene, together with Walker’s admission he fired one time, shows he must have been the shooter.
Mattingly’s lawyer, Kent Wicker, has said it was “absurd” to think Hankison changed weapons during the shootout, in which officers fired 32 times.
