Timeline

Breonna Taylor was killed in her Louisville, Kentucky, home on March 13, 2020, when officers serving a narcotics warrant fatally shot her, according to an Associated Press timeline. Hours later, police announced the arrest of Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, describing an exchange of gunfire in which an officer was wounded.

In the hours after the death, police did not identify Taylor at a news conference, instead describing her as “an unresponsive woman who was later pronounced dead,” the timeline said. It also notes that, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the shooting “stays out of the headlines” in the weeks that followed.

On April 27, 2020, Taylor’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the police department and the city, challenging the account that had been given publicly. On May 22, 2020, prosecutors announced they would drop attempted murder charges against Walker, whom they said shot at officers in Taylor’s home.

The timeline places the release of Walker’s anguished 911 call on May 28, 2020—three days after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota triggered large protests in Louisville. On May 29, Mayor Greg Fischer suspended Louisville police use of no-knock warrants, and on June 1 he fired Police Chief Steve Conrad after officers failed to turn on body cameras in the shooting of barbecue cook David McAtee during protests in Louisville.

The timeline says that on June 11, 2020, Louisville Metro Council unanimously passed “Breonna’s Law,” which bans use of no-knock warrants. It later records that on June 23, 2020, Officer Brett Hankison—one of three officers who fired shots that night—was fired for “blindly” firing into Taylor’s apartment.

Subsequent court and enforcement developments moved through both criminal proceedings and civil resolution. The timeline says that on Sept. 15, 2020, the city announced a civil settlement that would provide Taylor’s family with $12 million and promised police reforms, followed by a Sept. 23 Kentucky grand jury action that indicted Hankison for shooting into neighboring apartments but did not charge officers for their role in Taylor’s death.

In the following years, federal involvement and trial outcomes shaped the case’s direction. On April 26, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a Justice Department probe into policing in Louisville over Taylor’s death. On March 3, 2022, the timeline says former Kentucky police detective Brett Hankison was acquitted of state charges tied to allegations he endangered neighbors when he fired into Taylor’s apartment during the botched drug raid.

The timeline also tracks further civil resolution involving Walker. On Dec. 12, 2022, it says Walker settled two lawsuits against the city of Louisville, with the city agreeing to pay $2 million to settle lawsuits filed by Walker in federal and state courts. It then says that on March 8, 2023, the U.S. Justice Department found Louisville police engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights and discriminating against the Black community after its investigation prompted by Taylor’s death.

Criminal proceedings involving Hankison and other officers continued into federal court. The timeline says jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict on Nov. 16, 2023, on federal civil rights charges in Hankison’s trial, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial, and that on Dec. 13, 2023, federal prosecutors said they intended to retry him.

Other indictments involving officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany also faced major setbacks, with later filings tied to alleged misconduct at the raid that led to Taylor’s death. The timeline says that on Aug. 23, 2024, a federal judge threw out felony charges against Jaynes and Meany, who were accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her. It adds that on Oct. 1, 2024, prosecutors filed a new indictment against Jaynes and Meany, and that on Nov. 2, 2024, a federal jury convicted Hankison of using excessive force on Taylor.

The timeline continues with additional federal and city-level developments around policing reforms and later court challenges. It says that on Dec. 12, 2024, the Justice Department and the city of Louisville reached an agreement to reform the police force after the investigation prompted by Taylor’s death. It then notes that on May 21, 2025, the Justice Department, under President Donald Trump’s administration, moved to cancel the police reform agreement with Louisville, as well as related actions tied to Minneapolis and other departments investigated under President Joe Biden.

In sentencing and additional appeals, the timeline records that on July 21, 2025, a federal judge sentenced Hankison to 33 months in prison, rejecting the Justice Department recommendation of no prison time. It also says that on Aug. 20, 2025, a federal judge threw out felony charges in the new indictment against Jaynes and Meany, and that on Nov. 17, 2025, the Justice Department argued to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Hankison should serve no prison time.

The timeline concludes with further dismissals in federal court. It says that on Dec. 31, 2025, a federal judge dismissed the proposed Louisville police reform agreement with the Justice Department, and that on March 27, 2026, a federal judge dismissed the case against Jaynes and Meany at the request of the Justice Department.