Officer who broke down Breonna Taylor's door recalls sound of gunfire in trial's fourth day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville police officer who used a battering ram to smash through Breonna Taylor's front door testified in federal court Thursday that the gunshots that went off shortly after were the “loudest I've ever heard.”

Police gunfire killed Taylor, a Black 26-year-old medical technician, who had been roused from her bed moments earlier when officers showed up to serve a warrant in 2020. Taylor's boyfriend fired a shot once the door was knocked down by Detective Mike Nobles.

“We were in an echo chamber in there, so the shots were louder than they would usually be,” Nobles testified Thursday on the fourth day of former Louisville officer Brett Hankison’s trial in U.S. District Court. “It was the loudest I’ve ever heard.”

Federal prosecutors say Hankison fired blindly into Taylor’s windows and a sliding door, putting her and her neighbors in danger. Taylor was killed by shots fired from officers at the door. None of Hankison's shots hit anyone.

He is charged with violating the civil rights of Taylor and her next-door neighbors, who had bullets fly into their apartment the night of the raid.

A trial on the same charges against Hankison ended in a mistrial last year, and a state jury in 2022 acquitted Hankison of three wanton endangerment charges.

Nobles was near the front door in the breezeway of Taylor's apartment complex as the shots rang out. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired once and struck Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg. Police returned fire, shooting 32 rounds, including Hankison's 10 shots that were fired after he left the doorway and rounded the corner of the apartment unit.

Nobles was called to testify by Hankison's attorneys after prosecutors from the U.S. Justice Department finished their case Wednesday. Prosecutors called fewer witnesses at this retrial, and did not call Walker to testify. They have also put an emphasis on shots fired by Hankison that flew near the front door, arguing that it put a fellow officer in danger.

On cross examination by prosecutors Thursday, Nobles acknowledged that he wouldn't have fired into Taylor's windows like Hankison. Several witnesses called by prosecutors earlier in the week, including new Louisville police Chief Paul Humphrey, testified that officers are trained to identify a target before firing.

Prosecutors also showed testimony Nobles gave to a federal grand jury where he said he wouldn't have fired blindly into Taylor's windows “because this is not Iraq.”

The Taylor shooting made “police look bad” and detoured his career in policing, Nobles testified.

“The dream of living out a life and getting promoted to lieutenant is gone,” he said. “I’m leaving the minute my 20-year (retirement eligibility) hits.”

Hankison is expected to testify Monday. In previous testimony, he has argued that he was making a snap decision after he believed his fellow officers were being fired on by someone inside with a rifle.