Police in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday fatally shot a Black teenage lady they confronted as she lunged at two individuals with a knife, as seen in police video footage of the encounter, authorities mentioned.
The incident, sparking avenue protests in Ohio’s largest metropolis, got here because the nation was centered on the responsible verdict a Minneapolis jury returned in opposition to a white former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd final yr by kneeling on his neck.
Releasing police body-camera video of Tuesday’s capturing hours later, the interim Columbus police chief, Michael Woods, mentioned officers concerned there have been responding to an emergency-911 name from somebody who reported an tried stabbing at a house on the town’s southeast facet.
Arriving police encountered a chaotic scene of a number of individuals on the entrance garden the place {the teenager} in query, brandishing a knife, charged towards one feminine who falls backwards, then lunged at a second feminine, the video confirmed.
Investigators work on the scene the place a deadly capturing by a police officer occurred in Columbus, Ohio, U.S., April 20, 2021. (Reuters/Gaelen Morse)
A slow-motion replay of the video reveals the second sufferer stumbling backward in opposition to a automotive parked within the driveway because the knife-wielding youth raises the weapon as if about to stab her, and an officer opens hearth.
The teenager instantly collapses in opposition to the parked automotive and onto the bottom, and the weapon, which seems to be a kitchen-style knife, is seen mendacity on the pavement close to her as an officer crouches at her facet to render medical help.
Authorities described the youth who was fatally shot as a 15-year-old lady. But relations have recognized her as Makiyah Bryant, aged 16.
The police chief mentioned the video, which he mentioned reveals the slain teenager making an attempt to stab each females, was launched to the general public inside hours of the incident within the curiosity of “transparency.”
The officer who opened hearth was not recognized however seems from the video to be white. The chief mentioned he “would be taken off the street” pending an investigation.
Around the time the video was made public, dwell tv information protection confirmed a rising crowd of protesters on metropolis streets after darkish, confronting a small line of law enforcement officials on bicycles.
The demonstration appeared from media protection to be peaceable, with protesters repeatedly chanting the lady’s identify.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that demonstrators had gathered close to the scene of the capturing earlier within the day.
Woods mentioned the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) had opened an inquiry into the case. The metropolis’s public security director, Ned Pettus, Jr., appealed for calm whereas the investigation proceeds and info are uncovered in what he known as “a devastating” lack of life.”
Fast, fast solutions can not come at the price of correct solutions,” Pettus advised a late information convention with the police chief and mayor. “BCI will conduct a fully independent investigation, which will be made public. If an officer has violated policy or the law, if they have, they will be held accountable.”
Mayor Andrew Ginther mentioned it appeared from an preliminary overview of the footage that the officer who opened hearth “took action to protect another young girl in our community.”
“But another young girl will still not be coming home tonight,” he mentioned. “I ask everyone to pray for peace. Tonight, we pray for this family, we pray for this city, and we pray for our neighbors.”
A lady recognized within the Columbia Dispatch account because the slain lady’s aunt, Hazel Bryant, advised the newspaper {the teenager} lived in a foster house and have become concerned in an altercation with somebody on the residence.
