Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced on Sunday that his office now has the FBI ballistics report from the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
Cameron referred to the new information as a “critical piece” of the investigation during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation, adding that more witness interviews still need to be conducted. Cameron said he will meet with FBI officials this week to review the report.
After the television interview, Cameron said on Twitter that his office doesn’t plan to announce any decisions on the case this week.
We’ve received the FBI ballistics report in the Breonna Taylor investigation. There is still additional analysis that must take place, & our office does not plan to make an announcement this week. We continue to work diligently to follow the facts and complete the investigation.
— Attorney General Daniel Cameron (@kyoag) August 30, 2020
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing Taylor’s family, called the delivery of the ballistics report “welcomed news” on Face the Nation. Since Taylor’s death, Crump said the family and legal team have been seeking more information on the case to no avail.
“We’ve been told when they get the ballistics report, that’s what they needed to wrap up this investigation and finally give [the family] answers that they so desperately want and the community so desperately needs to try to heal,” he said during the interview. “At this point, we are hoping that this conclusion will be sooner rather than later, because justice delayed is justice denied.”
The announcement indicates that any decisions regarding the case will likely come after Saturday’s 146th running of the Kentucky Derby, during which Louisville becomes a focal point of national media. Due to rising coronavirus cases, the Derby will be run without spectators.
A Black militia group called the NFAC planned to return to protest Cameron’s lack of action during the Louisville Derby. The group’s organizer told the Courier Journal last week that they are still coming.
Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by three plain-clothes Louisville Metro Police Department officers serving a no-knock warrant on March 13. Cameron’s office took over the investigation in May.
Protests in the city began later that month and have continued every day. Recent marches and sit-ins have criticized the amount of time it’s taken Cameron to announce whether or not the three officers involved – Myles Cosgrove, Jon Mattingly and Brett Hankison – will face criminal charges for the shooting. LMPD fired Hankison in June; Mattingly and Cosgrove are still on paid leave.
