Louisville SWAT Team Criticized Breonna Taylor Raid During Internal Interview

Members of the Louisville Metro Police SWAT unit have criticized the planning and execution of the March 13 warrant service raid on Breonna Taylor’s home. Taylor was killed during the operation after her boyfriend shot an officer and he and other officers returned fire.

Lt. Dale Massey and other members of LMPD's SWAT team told the Profession Integrity Unit in interviews after Taylor’s death the three officers involved violated a basic rule of policing — identifying your target and what's in the background before you shoot.

Sgt. Brandon Hogan called that "basic academy stuff," according to interviews obtained by The Courier Journal as part of LMPD's investigative file.

Members of the highly trained team who responded to Taylor's apartment after the fatal police shooting also told investigators SWAT didn't know about the search of her residence, despite being briefed on other simultaneous warrants that night. 

Massey said if SWAT had served the warrant, its officers would have taken cover and ordered the occupants of the apartment to come out one at a time.