A US policeman involved in the controversial killing of black woman Breonna Taylor in her home has broken his silence in his first interview.
Sgt Jonathan Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Ms Taylor's boyfriend, said the case had "nothing to do with race".
Last month a Kentucky jury recommended that the three officers involved in the drug raid face no homicide charges.
The death of the 26-year-old hospital worker spurred Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
Mr Mattingly is one of three Louisville Metropolitan Police officers who prosecutors say were cleared of murder charges by a grand jury last month.
What did the officer say?
In an interview with ABC News and The Louisville Courier Journal, Mr Mattingly accused city officials of not coming to his defence in the aftermath of the shooting.
"It's been excruciating," he said. "When you have the truth right there in your hands and everything else is getting crammed around you, it's frustrating."
He added that although Ms Taylor's death was tragic, it was not similar to other high-profile killings by police in recent months.
"It's not a race thing like people want to try to make it to be. It's not. This is a point where we were doing our job, we gave too much time when we go in, I get shot, we returned fire," he said.
"This is not us going, hunting somebody down. This is not kneeling on a neck. It's nothing like that."
"She didn't deserve to die," he continued. "She didn't do anything to deserve a death sentence."
In September, Mr Mattingly drew scrutiny after an email he wrote to more than 1,000 of his colleagues on the police force accused the city's mayor and police chief of failing "all of us in epic proportions for their own gain and to cover their asses".
He wrote "legal, moral and ethical thing that night," adding: "It's sad how the good guys are demonised, and the criminals are canonised."
What did the grand jury rule?
On 23 September, a grand jury charged one officer, Brett Hankison - not with Ms Taylor's death but with wanton endangerment for firing into a neighbour's apartment.
The ruling reignited Black Lives Matter protests in Louisville against police misconduct and racial inequality.
Lawyers for the family of Ms Taylor said the grand jury - a panel drawn from members of the public to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a prosecution - were never asked by prosecutors to consider murder charges.
On Tuesday a member of the grand jury said the lawyers were correct.
The anonymous juror was permitted to release the statement by a judge who ruled it was in the public interest.
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