Records show Breonna Taylor didn't receive medical attention for more than 20 minutes after police shooting

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend told investigators she was alive for at least five minutes after being shot by police, and records show she did not receive medical attention during this time, according to a new report.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot by police in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, in March while she was inside with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker; police were executing a no-knock warrant in a narcotics investigation. Now, a detailed new report from the Courier-Journal uses a wide variety of records, including search warrants, arrest citations, and a complaint filed by Taylor's family, to reconstruct the minutes after the shooting.
"For more than 20 minutes after she was fatally shot at approximately 12:43 a.m. by Louisville officers, Taylor, 26, lay where she fell in her hallway, receiving no medical attention," the report says, citing dispatch logs.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
According to the report, records show that police "didn't radio in to dispatch about Taylor being inside the apartment until 1:10 a.m. — nearly a half-hour after she was shot by police." Walker reportedly told investigators in an interview hours after the shooting that Taylor was alive and coughing for at least five minutes after being shot, and an attorney for Taylor's family previously told The New York Times that "we have no evidence suggesting that any officer made entry in an attempt to check and assist her" in the minutes before she died.
As the report notes, Taylor's death certificate lists her time of death as "approx. 0048." But Jefferson County Coroner Barbara Weakley-Jones tells the Times that this was an "estimate" and "a flip of the coin," saying she likely died in "less than a minute." According the Times, state officials say that "only after [Walker] was in handcuffs could they go back in" and that they "didn't even know that Ms. Taylor was wounded until later." Read more at the Courier-Journal.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Rep. Sylvester Turner dies, weeks after joining House
Speed Read The former Houston mayor and longtime state legislator left behind a final message for Trump: 'Don't mess with Medicaid'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Trump pauses Ukraine intelligence sharing
Speed Read The decision is intended to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace negotiations with Vladimir Putin
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Supreme Court rules against Trump on aid freeze
Speed Read The court rejected the president's request to freeze nearly $2 billion in payments for foreign humanitarian work
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Mexico extradites 29 cartel figures amid US tariff threat
Speed Read The extradited suspects include Rafael Caro Quintero, long sought after killing a US narcotics agent
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Leonard Peltier released from prison
Speed Read The Native American activist convicted of killing two FBI agents had his life sentence commuted by former President Joe Biden
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Ex-Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced to 11 years
Speed Read The former New Jersey senator was convicted on federal bribery and corruption charges last year
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Police ID driver of exploded Cybertruck, can't see motive
Speed Read An Army Green Beret detonated a homemade bomb in a Tesla Cybertruck in front of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Teenage girl kills 2 in Wisconsin school shooting
Speed Read 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow fatally shot a teacher and student at Abundant Life Christian School
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Penny acquitted in NYC subway choking death
Speed Read Daniel Penny was found not guilty of homicide in the 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Suspect in CEO shooting caught, charged with murder
Speed Read Police believe 26-year-old Luigi Mangione killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
UnitedHealthcare CEO killed in 'brazen, targeted' hit
Speed Read Police are conducting a massive search for Brian Thompson's shooter
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published