‘CONFLICTING INFORMATION’

Louisville Officer Wrongly Claimed Breonna Taylor Was Armed With a Rifle on Night She Was Killed, Says Report

Former Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad said he was falsely told by officer at the scene that Breonna Taylor was armed and opened fire on officers.

Former Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad was wrongly told by his officers that Breonna Taylor was armed with a rifle and had opened fire before she was shot dead in her apartment, according to a report from The Louisville Courier-Journal. On March 18, five days after Taylor’s death, Conrad was reportedly interviewed by investigators and he described the conflicting reports he received from his officers about what had happened. Police incorrectly described finding Taylor holding a gun when she died, with Conrad saying one officer claimed he “saw her lying on the floor in a prone position holding a rifle” and that she “was the one directing the fire at them.” Neither claim was true—Taylor was unarmed, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot from a Glock 9 mm handgun, not a rifle, after police burst into their residence in a late-night no-knock warran. Conrad said he became concerned about “conflicting information” after he spoke to all the officers who were at the scene of Taylor’s fatal shooting.