Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James posted a series of tweets Wednesday afternoon in which he explained why he deleted a tweet in response to the fatal police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, a black girl from 16 years in Columbus, Ohio.
ANGER does us any good and that includes me too! Collect all the facts and educate yourself! My rage is still here for what happened to that lil girl. My sympathy for his family and for him to impose justice. 🙏🏾✊🏾🤎👑
– LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
I’m so tired of watching blacks die for the police. I withdrew the tweet because it was used to generate more hatred – it’s not about an officer. it is about the whole system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate to get more RESPONSIBILITY
– LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
James’ tweet, deleted since then, showed a photo of officer Nicholas Reardon, who is white, with a caption accompanying it, “YOU’RE COMING # RESPONSIBILITY” along with an hourglass emoji, Wednesday .
Camera footage images released by the Columbus Police Division showed the officer, identified Wednesday as Reardon, getting out of his car at a home where he had been sent to police after someone called 911 saying they were being physically threatened.
As the officer walks towards a group of people on the driveway, Bryant can be seen brandishing a knife wildly at another girl or woman, who falls backwards. The officer calls several times to crouch. Bryant then charges another girl or woman, who is immobilized against a car.
From a few yards away, with people on either side, the officer fired four shots and Bryant collapsed to the ground. The knife is on the sidewalk next to her.
Bryant was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. Police did not say if anyone else was injured.
James’ hometown, Akron, Ohio, is about 200 miles northeast of Columbus, the state capital.
Bryant’s shooting came shortly after a Minneapolis jury found Officer Derek Chauvin guilty of two counts of murder and one count of manslaughter for filling George Floyd in May 2020 out of a convenience store.
James responded to Chauvin’s verdict with a single word: “Responsibility.”
James ’teammate, Los Angeles Lakers winger Anthony Davis, said Los Angeles had not yet discussed the outcome of the trial as a team, but offered his personal thoughts on the outcome.
“I think a lot of people in the world are happy with the verdict and just being able to give peace to this family, [y] tranquility, “Davis said Wednesday.” I think it was a first step towards justice … I think it was a good day, just for the world, to be able to do justice because you see so many times where it doesn’t happen. “