Louisville Police Officer Says Breonna Taylor Shooting Was ‘Not A Race Thing’

Emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by police in her home in March. Her name has become a rallying cry in protests against police brutality and social injustice.

One of the Louisville police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor seven months ago said while her death was tragic, it is different than other high-profile killings of Black Americans this year.

“It’s not a race thing like people try to make it to be,” said Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, one of the three officers who discharged their service weapons during the botched narcotics raid at Taylor’s home in the early hours of March 13.

“This is not relatable to George Floyd, this is nothing like it. It’s not Ahmaud Arbery. It’s nothing like it,” Mattingly said in his first public comments since the incident in an interview with ABC News and Louisville’s Courier Journal.