Police fatally shot Katelyn Hall, 28, at an east Louisville apartment complex last Friday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If you or someone you love is experiencing thoughts of suicide, please know help is available. Call or text 988 to speak with a crisis counselor, or reach out to Seven Counties for help locally.
Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) has released new body camera video days after officers fatally shot a woman in east Louisville last Friday.
Katelyn Hall, 28, was experiencing a mental health crisis on March 27. According to LMPD, she had locked herself in a bathroom after injuring herself and was threatening to continue harming herself.
After first responders broke the door, Officers Robert Baker and Robert Gabbard shot Hall as she began moving quickly toward them with a sharp piece of porcelain.
“Responding to mental health crises are some of the most complex and dynamic situations for police officers,” LMPD Deputy Chief Emily McKinley said Friday. “No one goes into these situations hoping for an outcome like this.”
Bodycam shows chaotic encounter
In Officer Baker’s 13-minute bodycam video, he is seen arriving on scene and speaking with the 9-1-1 caller, who family members indicated is Hall’s cousin and roommate.
Baker arrives on scene at 7:56 p.m., and he begins speaking to Hall at a distance, through the bathroom door at 7:58 p.m.
“You got people out here worried about you,” Baker said in the video.
As more officers arrive on scene, they devise a plan to open the door. They say one of them will use their hands, one will use less-lethal force, and one will use lethal force if needed.
At 8:04 p.m., a firefighter with Anchorage Middletown Fire and EMS breaks the lock on the door with a crowbar. At 8:07 p.m., another firefighter breaks the hinges on the opposite side of the door.
“With the intent to get medical aid to Ms. Hall, firefighters then break the hinges on the door,” McKinley said.
At 8:08 p.m., Hall exits the bathroom holding a piece of porcelain several inches long, and Baker can be seen lifting his gun commanding her to stop.
“As the firefighter moves back from the door, Ms. Hall suddenly opens the door and exits rapidly, holding a piece of broken porcelain approximately 8-12 inches in length, with sharp, pointed edges. It is believed this is from braking the top of toilet while in the bathroom,” McKinley said.
As Hall continues moving toward them, Baker and Gabbard, who arrived on scene as the door hinges were being broken, then shot their firearms, striking Hall.
Officers gave Hall medical attention. She was transported to the hospital where she died.
Deputy Chief McKinley said the incident happened in less than a second, describing it as an “extremely lethal situation.”
“It’s clear that they wanted to help her and they felt that they needed to help her,” McKinley said. “I can’t speak as to why they made a decision, that’s going to be part of the investigation, but I think those are reasonable conclusions to make based on watching this video and the conversations that they’re having about why the lock was broken, why the hinges were broken, it was to help her. They knew she was injured.”
McKinley says every LMPD officer is trained in CIT (crisis intervention training) and also carried a taser. While the officers made a plan that one of them would use less-lethal force, the taser was never deployed.
“Our tasers take time to deploy. You have to fire twice. You fire one probe, you put another probe somewhere else. So, it takes more time to effectively use a taser,” McKinley said.
LMPD said it is already using the incident to learn how officers can better respond in these situations and to make sure less lethal equipment is more evenly dispersed throughout its divisions.
‘She needed to be seen by a doctor.’
In the days after Hall’s death, her family has criticized LMPD’s response to the incident.
“She needed to be seen by a doctor, not by a coroner. I just don’t understand it. That’s what she needed. She needed mental health, not this,” Cassandra Long, her aunt, told WHAS11.
Louisville has a deflection program that sends mental health professionals on crisis calls, however LMPD said when violent threats or weapons are involved, the program isn’t used.
“Police officers must respond to situations that are too dangerous for deflection response,” McKinley explained Friday. “Each encounter poses a unique and often chaotic challenge.”
In 2024, LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey commended Baker for diffusing a crisis call.
According to the letter, the caller “advanced quickly” and “pulled out a knife” in a store. After dropping the knife, the man was stopped with a taser.
On Friday, Humphrey said the “upsetting situation” highlights an urgent need for increased mental health resources in the community.
“No one wants to see people struggle with mental illness, and no one wants to see an outcome like this,” he said. “We have already begun to use this incident to work on improving how we handle these situations. We owe that to everyone involved and the city. I am asking that as a community, we use this incident as a catalyst to come together to create more accessible, effective approaches to mental health.”
LMPD said investigations by the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) and Professional Standards Unit (PSU) remain ongoing.
A copy of the PIU’s investigation will go the Commonwealth’s attorney office to see if any charges are warranted. It will also go to Kentucky State Police for a peer-review, as well as the Louisville Office of Inspector General.
If you or someone you love is experiencing thoughts of suicide, please know help is available. Call or text 988 to speak with a crisis counselor, or reach out to Seven Counties for help locally.