The Louisville Metro Police Department has finally fired two officers involved in the botched raid that resulted in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Last week, it was announced that Detectives Joshua Jaynes and Myles Cosgrove would be fired — and those firings became official on Tuesday, per a letter from Louisville Metro Police Department Chief Yvette Gentry to the officers.
Jaynes’ attorney Thomas Clay, responded to the firing by announcing his decision to appeal to a city board that reviews police terminations on behalf of his client.
“He’s being made a scapegoat,” Clay told NBC News on Wednesday, adding that the raid was “fully briefed” to the highest levels of the police department prior to the officers being dispatched. “There is a culpability, if there is any culpability, it goes to the highest levels of Louisville metro government. He did nothing wrong. Joshua Jaynes did nothing wrong.”
Taylor was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in March during a botched raid on her apartment. Former Lousiville Officer Brett Hankison was indicted by a grand jury in September on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree in the shooting that killed Taylor. None of the officers involved in the fatal encounter were charged in her death.
Following public backlash, an anonymous juror filed a motion requesting to speak publicly about the decision. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron then admitted that he did not recommend that the jury indict any officers on homicide charges.
Cosgrove is yet to publicly respond to the firing.
