LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former Louisville detective Brett Hankison testified in his own defense on Wednesday about his actions during the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor.
Hankison said he did nothing wrong during the raid, and that Taylor "didn't need to die that night."
He said the gunfire began with a muzzle flash that illuminated a shadowy silhouette, and he thought it was someone firing an automatic rifle at his fellow officers.
Hankison says he returned fire hoping to eliminate the threat.
He's charged with firing stray bullets through Taylor's apartment and endangering her neighbors during the botched March 2020 narcotics raid.
He faces three counts of wanton endangerment.
He has pleaded not guilty.
In March 2020, Taylor, a 26-year-old Black medical worker, was fatally shot in her home during a botched police raid.
According to the Associated Press, the warrant obtained was later found to be flawed.
Two of the officers who fired shots that struck Taylor, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly, were not charged.
Cosgrove, who state investigators believe fired the fatal shot, was fired last January, months after Hankison was fired.
Last June, Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, retired.