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Aug 30, 2020 - Politics & Policy

Kentucky AG says he has received ballistics report in Breonna Taylor probe

Fadel Allassan

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) said Sunday his office has not decided whether it will charge the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, five months after the incident occurred, because it is conducting a "thorough and fair investigation."

What's new: Cameron told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that his office had received a ballistics report this week — a "critical component" of the probe that he previously implied had stalled the investigation, which the state took on in May.

The big picture: Police entered Taylor's home while investigating men they believed to be selling drugs out of a house 10 miles away. They shot her at least eight times while she was sleeping after her boyfriend, who was awakened by the incident, fired his gun in self-defense.

What he's saying: "As part of my time in Washington, D.C., I met with the Department of Justice and FBI," said Cameron, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last week. "We've got a critical component here as it relates to a ballistics report. There's no video footage of the incident in question in Ms. Taylor's passing."

  • "And I can announce to you today, as part of those efforts earlier this week, we have received that ballistics report. Now again, that is a critical piece of this investigation."
  • "It's not the end-all, be-all, there's still some witness testimony and interviews that have to be conducted. But we do have that ballistics report. We will be meeting with the FBI at the beginning of this upcoming week to have a painstaking review of that information."

The other side: Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the families of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and most recently Jacob Blake, told "Face the Nation" that progress in the case is "welcome news."

  • "We were 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," Crump said.
  • "So at this point, we are hoping that this conclusion will be sooner rather than later because justice delayed is justice denied."
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