The boyfriend of Breonna Taylor who fired a shot at police as they burst through Taylor's door the night she was killed has settled two lawsuits against the city of Louisville, Kentucky, his attorneys said Monday. The city agreed to pay $2 million to settle lawsuits filed by Kenneth Walker in federal and state court, attorney Steve Romines said in a statement. He added that Taylor's death "will haunt Kenny for the rest of his life. He will live with the effects of being put in harm’s way due to a falsified warrant, to being a victim of a hailstorm of gunfire, and to suffering the unimaginable and horrific death of Breonna Taylor."
Walker's attorneys said Monday that part of the settlement he received would be used to set up a scholarship fund for law school students interested in practicing civil rights law. Another portion will be contributed to the Center for Innovations in Community Safety, a police and community reform Center at Georgetown Law School, reports the AP. The city of Louisville paid a $12 million settlement to Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, in September 2020.
Walker and Taylor were settled in bed for the night when they were roused by banging on her apartment door around midnight on March 13, 2020. Police were outside with a drug warrant, and they used a battering ram to knock down the door. Walker fired a single shot from a handgun, striking Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg. Mattingly and two other officers then opened fire, killing Taylor. Walker was initially charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but charges against him were eventually dropped. Walker told investigators he didn't know police were at the door, and he thought an intruder was trying to break in. (In an August op-ed, Walker wrote of his "nightmare.")
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