LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said officers knocked on Breonna Taylor's door before the shooting that claimed her life.
Cameron held a news conference discussing the case after a grand jury announced that no officers would be directly charged in the shooting death of Taylor. One former officer, Brett Hankison, was indicted on wanton endangerment charges for allegedly firing shots that went into a nearby apartment.
The announcement came 194 days after Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville Metro officers in her apartment.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Louisville Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and officer Myles Cosgrove were "justified" in their use of force the night Breonna Taylor was killed.
Hankison was terminated from the police force in June.
Taylor was killed on March 13 while LMPD officers were serving a search warrant as part of a drug investigation. It has been widely reported that the officers were executing a 'no-knock' warrant. With this type of warrant, officers do not have to identify themselves.
During the news briefing to explain the grand jury's decision, Cameron only referred to it as a search warrant. He said the officers were told by their superiors to knock and announce their appearance while serving this "specific" search warrant.
"The scope of our investigation didn't include the obtainment of that warrant by LMPD's Criminal Interdiction Division. Federal law enforcement partners are conducting that investigation," Cameron said.
Cameron said Hankison, Cosgrove and Mattingly were called into duty to help effectuate the search warrant and were not involved in the obtaining of that warrant.
Cameron said evidence shows the "officers both knocked and announced their presence. It was also corroborated by a witness in an apartment near Taylor's." Therefore, Cameron said, the warrant was not served as a "no-knock" warrant.
"When officers were unable to get anyone to answer the door at apartment #4, the decision was made to breach the door," Cameron said.
Cameron said they pieced together their investigation from ballistics, 911 calls, officer statements and eyewitnesses.
"No-knock" warrants have been banned in Louisville after the passage of the Breonna Taylor law.