Authorities in Columbus, Ohio, have released camera footage of a police shooting that left a teenage girl dead minutes before trial verdict Derek Chauvin was announced Tuesday in Minneapolis.
The video of the incident shows an agent approaching a roadway where there is a group of young people. Among them was 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who apparently pushes or turns toward a person and falls to the ground, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
According to the newspaper, Bryant spins a knife at another girl who is in the hood of a car and an officer fires his weapons four times, hitting Bryant, who later died from his injuries.
Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) said Tuesday night that images from the body’s camera were being reviewed and that officials from the Ohio Criminal Investigation Bureau were at the scene.
“This afternoon a young woman has tragically lost her life. We do not know all the details. There are images from the camera carried by the body of the incident. We are working to review it as soon as possible. BCI is on site conducting an independent investigation … as they do with everyone [Columbus Police Department]- shootings involved, ”Ginther said.
At a news conference Tuesday, Franklin County Children’s Services confirmed Bryant’s identity and said he was in foster care.
Police said they responded to the scene Tuesday afternoon for the report of an attempted stabbing.
Videos and photos taken near the site of the shooting show protesters gathering there on Tuesday night.
“We didn’t get to celebrate anything,” protester KC Taynor said in reference to Chauvin’s verdict. “In the end, you know what, you can’t be black.”
Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of murdering George Floyd last summer. The case was widely regarded as a referendum on police brutality and systemic racism in the criminal justice system.