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The Louisville cop who was shot in the leg during a shootout at Breonna Taylor‘s apartment was struck by her boyfriend, not ‘friendly fire’, a newly released ballistics report confirms. 

Sergeant John Mattingly was wounded in the deadly late night raid on March 13 after he and two other officers breached the door of Taylor’s home while serving a ‘no-knock’ search warrant.

Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker had mistaken the cops for intruders and fired a ‘warning shot’ at the door, striking Mattingly in the thigh and prompting officers to return fire.

The Louisville Metro Police Department this week released the findings of a Kentucky Police ballistics report that confirmed Mattingly was hit by Walker, not in the crossfire. 

Kenneth Walker (left) was charged with attempted murder of a police officer after the shootout, but prosecutors later dropped the charge. Sergeant John Mattingly (right) suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh during the March 13 raid

This Glock 9mm was recovered under the bed inside the apartment, where Walker said that he kicked it after opening fire on the search warrant team

Kentucky Police ballistics report that confirmed Mattingly was hit by Walker, not in the crossfire

The controversy surrounding the case had sparked theories that Mattingly could have inadvertently hit by his own colleagues after cops fired a total of 32 rounds, instead of Walker, who only fired once.

The report, however reveals Mattingly was hit by a 9mm round and only one 9mm casing was found at the scene that was fired from Walker’s Glock handgun. 

The officers meanwhile, had been carrying .40-caliber guns.

Walker also admitted to firing the first round in police interviews.  

The findings are consistent with Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s statements last month that there was ‘no evidence to support that Sergeant Mattingly was hit by friendly fire from other officers.’ 

‘Mr Walker admitted that he fired one shot and was the first one to shoot. In addition to all the testimony, the ballistics report shows the round that struck sergeant Mattingly was fired from a .9-millimeter handgun. The LMPD officers fired .40-caliber handguns,’ Cameron said following the grand jury ruling. 

Report shows an analysis of the trajectory of the bullets during the March 13 raid 

 

Walker has maintained that the officers did not identify themselves as police when they arrived at the apartment

Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer after the shootout but prosecutors later dropped the charge. 

The state’s investigation found cops fired a total of 32 rounds during the raid, six of which hit Taylor.   

Investigators determined Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove had fired the shots that struck Taylor, but believe Cosgrove was responsible for firing the fatal bullet. 

Cameron said Cosgrove and Mattingly were not charged after investigators determined their actions were justified because Walker opened fire first.

A third officer, Detective Brett Hankison, was charged for with ‘wanton endangerment’ after investigators found he recklessly fired shots into the neighboring apartments.  

Photos from the scene show the bullet-riddled aftermath inside the apartment, with bullet holes in the walls and shell casings strewn inside and outside the front door.

Photos also show a shattered sliding door, displaying the evidence of the alleged wild shots fired through that door by Detective Brett Hankinson, who was fired from the LMPD in June and charged with wanton endangerment last month.

Gouge marks from bullets are seen in Taylor’s home after cops fired 32 rounds

A discarded battering ram is seen outside of Taylor’s apartment following the March 13 raid

Photos also show a shattered sliding door, displaying the evidence of the alleged wild shots fired through that door by Detective Brett Hankinson

A termination memo released on Wednesday accused Hankinson of ‘blindly firing’ 10 rounds through the sliding glass door without being able to see who was on the other side.

Three of those rounds went though the rear wall of Taylor’s apartment into the neighboring unit, which was occupied, resulting in the wanton endangerment charges against Hankinson. 

The files were made public on Wednesday nearly a week after hours of audio from normally secret grand jury proceedings were released by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron.  

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said much of the information in the files was included in the records from the grand jury proceedings.

The files included investigative letters, interview transcripts, officers’ body camera videos, audio and video files of interviews, crime scene unit reports and search warrants. 

Some items were redacted, blurred or withheld for privacy or legal reasons. Police said photos and videos of Taylor’s body were ‘blurred out of respect’.