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“This is how the wrong person was shot and killed,” Meyer wrote. He said none of the shots Detective Myles Cosgrove, Mattingly, or Brett Hankison, another officer on the scene, took were safe. “The officers could not safely take the shots given these circumstances,” Meyer determined. “The officers did not safely take the shots and Ms. Taylor was struck and killed.”
Mattingly was not one of the officers who failed to correctly identify a target. He identified Walker as a target but at Taylor’s expense, the report determined. “Ms. Taylor’s safety should have been considered prior to Sergeant Mattingly returning fire at the threat, Mr. Walker,” the investigator wrote in the report.
The official added: “Withdrawing to cover would have created a higher degree of safety for the officers than engaging, because even provided the shots were accurate enough to strike the intended target, it would not mean the threat is immediately disrupted.”
Detective Joshua Jaynes, who secured the drug warrant, and Cosgrove, who fired the shot the FBI determined killed Taylor, were officially fired in January for their roles in the deadly shooting, the Louisville Metro Police Department confirmed to media on Jan. 6. Hankison was also fired, but Mattingly, who shot Taylor five times, was only reassigned to administrative work. Although none of the officers will be charged in Taylor’s death, Hankison is expected to face charges of wanton endangerment at trial next year, reportedly for firing into neighboring apartments, CNN reported.
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