Louisville Police Department fires two detectives involved in Breonna Taylor raid

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in her apartment during a flawed forced-entry raid in the early morning hours of March 13, 2020.

Detective Myles Cosgrove was fired Tuesday for use of deadly force for firing 16 rounds into Taylor’s home and failing to activate his body camera, according to a copy of his termination letter.

Detective Joshua Jaynes, who had written the search warrant for the raid on Taylor’s home, was also fired Tuesday for “failing to complete a Search Warrant Operations Plan form” and being untruthful about verifying that Taylor’s previous boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, had been receiving packages at Taylor’s home, according to a copy of his termination letter obtained by CNN.

Cosgrove and Jaynes can appeal the dismissal, which would prompt a review by the LMPD Merit Board and could ultimately lead to a public hearing.

CNN has reached out to their attorneys as well as the Fraternal Order of Police.

Taylor’s death, along with that of other Black people at the hands of law enforcement, sparked a summer of protests calling for police reform.

This is the change that could truly honor Breonna Taylor

No officer who took part in the raid was charged for Taylor’s actual killing. Only one of the three officers — Brett Hankison — was charged in connection with the shooting. In September, a grand jury charged Hankison with three counts of felony wanton endangerment for blindly firing 10 shots into Taylor’s home. He pleaded not guilty.

LMPD fired Hankison in June 2020.

As a result of the grand jury’s decision, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, asked the Kentucky Prosecutors Advisory Council to appoint an independent prosecutor to present the case of her daughter’s death before a new grand jury. She said Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s handling of the case “undermines the trust and integrity of the entire process.”

Cameron has said Cosgrove fired the fatal shot — which he said was justified because Taylor’s boyfriend fired at officers first.

“At minimum, my daughter deserves, as do all aggrieved victims, a competent and capable prosecution team which is committed to properly investigating the case, evaluating the law from an unbiased lens, presenting the evidence and allowing the grand jurors to perform the functions guaranteed to them under the law,” Palmer wrote in her request for relief.

The advisory council declined to appoint a special prosecutor in December, saying they did not have the legal authority to do so, according to a report by CNN affiliate WDRB.

CNN’s Mark Morales contributed to this report.