Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot dead inside her home in Kentucky. Photo / Breonna Taylor Family
Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot dead inside her home in Kentucky. Photo / Breonna Taylor Family
Breonna Taylor was alive for six minutes after being shot by police and was left unattended for 20 minutes, newly released records show.
Three Louisville officers fired more than 20 bullets into Taylor's apartment, striking her five times. It was just after midnight on March 13.
She didn't die straight away. In fact, the Courier Journal reports that she was alive for a full six minutes, coughing and gasping for breath.
"[Police are] yelling like, 'Come out, come out,' and I'm on the phone with her [mom]. I'm still yelling help because she's over here coughing and, like, I'm just freaking out," her boyfriend Kenneth Walker said in a recorded police interview, which reportedly took place three hours after the shooting.
While the Jefferson county coroner disputes the story and says she likely died within a minute of being shot, records now show Taylor was left unattended for 20 minutes after being shot and no effort was made by officers to attempt to save her life.
After being shot by police inside her home at about 12.43am, the 26-year-old lay in her hallway for more than 20 minutes without medical assistance.
"Breonna, who was unarmed in her hallway, was struck by several rounds of gunfire. She was not killed immediately," attorneys Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker wrote in a revised lawsuit filed on behalf of Taylor's family.
"Rather, she lived for another five to six minutes before ultimately succumbing to her injuries on the floor of her home."
Officers stood outside her house after shooting her and no one went inside to try to help her, records show.
Breonna Taylor was just 26-years-old. Photo / Breonna Taylor Family
Multiple documents reviewed by the Courier Journal attempted to recreate the moments following Taylor's shooting, minute-by-minute.
The documents used information in search warrants, arrest citations, her death certificate, the coroner's news release, as well as dispatch logs and court filings, and police interviews.
The timeline shows it took officers nearly half an hour to even radio in a dispatch about Taylor being inside the apartment - around 1.10am.
"F [female] inside with gun kicked under the bed," the dispatch log shows.
Two minutes later: "F sup to be laying on ground in hallway."
Taylor died at 12.48am, according to her death certificate.
Taylor's family has alleged in a court filing that the 26-year-old fought for her life for "more than five minutes".
According to her family, not only did Louisville police needlessly break into her apartment with a no-knock warrant, but they also failed to provide her with medical assistance after repeatedly shooting her.
The Courier Journal's timeline of Taylor's final moments alive shows that, before police banged on her door and killed her, she was at home with her boyfriend, in bed, watching the movie Freedom Writers.
