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.
-
Space ads could be coming to a sky near you
Under the radar Making space for commercial profits
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Sudoku medium: April 7, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Sudoku hard: April 7, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Judge ends Eric Adams case, Trump leverage
Speed Read Federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were dismissed, as requested by Trump's Justice Department
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Texas arrests midwife on felony abortion charges
Speed Read Maria Margarita Rojas and an employee at one of her clinics are the first to be criminally charged under Texas' near-total abortion ban
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
South Carolina to execute prisoner by firing squad
speed read Death row inmate Brad Sigmon prefers the squad over the electric chair or lethal injection, his lawyer said
By Peter Weber, 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