When reporting becomes deadly gossip
When reporting becomes deadly gossip
The Brett Hankison Series, Post 3 - Public perception calls the shots
In the previous post, changing the Breonna Taylor narrative is urged. We only need to tell the truth and share the facts of the case. The LMPD Breonna Taylor Investigation is currently online for anyone to read.
It’s interesting that in the Investigative Reports, a number of different bullet types are noted. The shots fired by the police were accounted for as follows:
Thirty-two (32) Federal 40 caliber S&W spent casings were found:
Six (6) from Sgt. Jon Mattingly’s gun
Sixteen (16) from Det. Myles Cosgrove
Ten (10) from Det. Brett Hankison
Photos of each spent shell casing for all shots fired are shown in the report as well as one (1) live round and a number of projectiles or fragments. The live round is described as a ‘Federal 380 Auto live round.’
The spent casings that were not from the police weapons were:
Two (2) WIN 40 caliber S&W spent casings
One (1) R-P 9MM Luger spent casing
Seven (7) WIN 9 MM Luger spent casings
Since I am not Nancy Drew I won’t pursue this strange mystery, but it has been been extensively reported that Kenneth Walker only shot one time.
Here is what the LMPD states about the seven WIN 9 MM Luger casings:
It should be noted during the course of assessing the scene multiple spent casings were observed in front of the aforementioned apartment building. (Breonna’s building -ed) The casings appeared weathered, indicating they were not a part of the incident in question. The spent casings were collected due to the ballistic nature of the incident. Markers 11-17 represent the items of evidence. (1)
Another mystery, mentioned in the previous post, were the two bullets that entered the ceiling above Taylor’s apartment that did not come from Brett’s gun.
Much time can be lost in puzzling over details, but by simply reporting what is KNOWN, lives may be saved. That is the point of this post. In October 2023 a federal trial for Det. Brett Hankison will take place in Louisville. With the current narrative being promoted, what sort of protests might we anticipate?
‘Bad actors’ placed a $50,000 bounty on the heads of the officers who shot their weapons during the Breonna raid, and on the heads of their family members, in spring 2020. Why? Because the media reported what Taylor’s family’s lawyer stated.
Attorney Benjamin Crump reported that Breonna Taylor was asleep in her bed when she was killed, that the police did not knock or announce, and that they changed their story to fit their narrative. He said the police were in plain clothes but omitted that they wore raid vests clearly marked POLICE. He claimed the police were at the wrong house and that the suspect sought was already in custody. None of this was true. (Ref.- NPR, Sleeping While Black)
Further, he tied Breonna’s tragedy with the Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery stories, compounding the perception of racial injustice which was unfounded in both cases yet promoted by the media.
The false narrative ignited a tinder keg in Louisville during the summer of 2020, leading to the deaths of David McAtee (6-1-20), owner of a barbecue business on West Broadway, and Tyler Gerth (6-27-20), a photographer in Jefferson Park Square during a ‘peaceful protest.’
Sgt. Mattingly, the officer shot during the raid, tried to bring the facts to light in May of 2020 before the riots began, but those he approached or who knew the truth, inflamed the false narrative by their inaction and their wrong actions. Meanwhile, his life was inalterably changed. We hope to share a much more detailed retrospective of the events that followed Friday, March the 13th, 2020, in a future post.
On August 25, 2020, a C-J story detailing many actual facts were reported, with updates added in January of 2021, but it was a little late.
False or deceptive narratives are common. One is below.
On a positive note, gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron promised action to help our police on Wednesday of this week! The Cameron Public Safety Plan was introduced.