One of Breonna Taylor's neighbors, whose apartment was damaged by gunfire during the March 13 no-knock police raid resulting in the 26-year-old’s death, is seeking answers on why their case wasn’t considered in charges levied against Louisville police officer Brett Hankison.

Stanley David, a 47-year-old originally from Liberia, was sleeping in bed next to his young daughter when Louisville police officers opened fire on Taylor’s apartment. Bullets were sent flying through David’s apartment, directly above the space where Taylor once lived, NewsOne reports.

The man’s elderly mother, a child she was babysitting and the child’s father were also present in the apartment at the time of the shooting, when a bullet went through the hallway floor and another round of fire was lodged outside David’s bedroom door.

“My apartment was hit too,” David told the Louisville Courier-Journal in an interview released Monday. “The bullet that came through my floor right in front of my bedroom door, if that bullet went through my bed, maybe I would have been dead too. I’m a human being too.”

He said he was acquainted with Taylor and disagreed with law enforcement's portrayal that she was knowingly involved in illegal drug activities.

“Breonna was nobody like they claim,” David said. “For as long as I knew her, I didn’t see anybody coming there with anything like that. There weren’t people coming in and out. It was only she and her boyfriend.”

He said no one in his apartment heard the police knock or announce their presence at Taylor’s apartment.

“I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “Breonna was not doing drugs, and she got killed for nothing. She never had a gun. She did not shoot any shots.”

David said the shooting has adversely affected his family’s mental health, and he has developed issues sleeping well at night. According to NewsOne, he and his family moved from the apartment complex in June.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said last week that a witness said they heard police announce themselves, but several other witnesses and neighbors have come forward saying they didn’t hear a police warning before the shots were fired, Radio 89.3 WFPL covering metro Louisville reports.

A lawyer representing Chelsey Napper and Cody Etherton, Taylor’s white neighbors, said on Wednesday they are in negotiations with the city to settle a lawsuit they made against the officers during the raid, Blavity previously reported.

The lawyer said his clients are extremely pleased that Hankison is being held accountable for his "monstrous act." They said they sympathize with Tamika Palmer and the family of Breonna Taylor and join with folks in the pursuit of justice for Taylor.

The National Bar Association, the nation's largest national network of Black attorneys and judges, issued a statement condemning Cameron’s efforts in the investigation.

From the National Bar Association:

“To add insult to injury, an indictment for wanton endangerment was returned for Breonna's white neighbors but none for her black neighbors that also had gunshots from the police entering their home.” pic.twitter.com/QGpYzOvtpi

— Quentin Fottrell (@Quantanamo) September 24, 2020

“Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s vow to ‘vigorously prosecute’ Brett Hankison, the sole Louisville police officer criminally charged with three counts of wanton endangerment of the first degree as a result of Taylor’s death, falls on deaf and enraged ears. Breonna was a completely innocent woman, sleeping in her own home when she was killed by Louisville police attempting a no knock search warrant,” the statement read.

Lonita Baker, the lead counsel representing Taylor’s family, deemed Cameron’s announcement a prejudice and unprecedented legal move.

“This is the most absurd legal maneuvering that I have ever seen. If [Ex-Officer Brett Hankison's] behavior was wanton to those in neighboring apartments it was likewise wanton to Breonna and Kenny,” she said. “To add insult to injury, an indictment for wanton endangerment was returned for Breonna’s white neighbors but none for her Black neighbors.”

Lonita-Baker

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week