COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Columbus police shot dead a teenager who turned two people with a knife Tuesday, according to images of the officer who shot a few minutes before the murder verdict was read by George Floyd.
Columbus Police Division officials showed a segment of the images Tuesday night just hours after the shooting took place in a neighborhood on the east side of the city. The decision to quickly release the video was a departure from the protocol, as the force faces immense control by the public after a series of recent high-profile police killings that have sparked clashes.
The 10-second clip begins with the officer getting out of his car at a house where police had been sent after someone called 911 saying they were physically threatened, interim police chief Michael Woods said at the wheel of press. The officer takes a few steps toward a group of people on the sidewalk when the girl, who was black, begins to rotate a knife at another girl or woman who falls backwards. The officer calls several times to get off.
The girl with the knife charges against another girl or woman who is pinned against a car.
A few feet away, with people on either side of him, the officer fires four shots and the teenager falls to the ground. A black handle blade resembling a kitchen knife or a steak knife sits on the sidewalk next to it.
Immediately, a man calls the officer: “You didn’t have to shoot her! He’s just a kid, man! ”
The agent responds: “I had a knife. She just went to her. “
The officer’s career was unclear.
The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said. It is not yet clear if anyone else was injured.
Police did not identify the girl or her age on Tuesday. One family member said he was 15, while another said he was 16 years old.
The shooting took place minutes before the verdict on the murder of George Floyd was announced. Protesters who had gathered peacefully after the verdict to demand reform and police accountability quickly focused their focus on the girl’s murder. The crowd of about 100 people could be heard singing outside the police headquarters as city officials offered their condolences to the family and acknowledged the rarity of showing body camera images so shortly after a police shooting.
Woods said state law allows police to use lethal force to protect themselves or others, and investigators will determine if that shooting was an example.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther lamented the loss of the young victim, but defended the use of deadly force by the officer.
“We know that, from this material, the agent took steps to protect another young woman in our community,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile, outside the briefing, hundreds of protesters passed through the barriers outside the police headquarters and approached officers as city officials showed video of the body camera inside. Many shouted, “Say his name!” While others signified the age of the victim by shouting, “she was just a girl.” Officers with bicycles pushed back the protesters and threatened to deploy pepper spray on the crowd.
The shooting occurred about 25 minutes before a judge read the verdict condemning the murder of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. and murder at the hands of Floyd’s murder. It also took place less than 5 miles from where Andrew Hill’s funeral was held, who was killed by another Columbus police officer in December, was arrested earlier this year. Hill’s case agent Adam Coy, a 19-year-old force veteran, is now facing a murder trial, and the next hearing is scheduled for April 28.
Less than three weeks before Hill’s death, a Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy fatally shot 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. to Columbus. The case continues under federal investigation.
Last week, Columbus police shot dead a man who was in a hospital emergency room with a gun on him. Officials are continuing the investigation into this shooting.
Kimberly Shepherd, 50, who has lived in the neighborhood where Tuesday’s shooting took place for 17 years, said she knew the teen victim.
“The neighborhood has definitely gone through its changes, but nothing like that,” Shepherd said of the shooting. “This is the worst thing that has ever happened here and unfortunately it is in the hands of the police.”
Shepherd and his neighbor Jayme Jones, 51, had held Chauvin’s guilty verdict. But things changed quickly, she said.
“It simply came to our notice then. But you couldn’t even enjoy it, “Shepherd said.” Because as you get a phone call from his guilt, I’ll get the next call that this happens in my neighborhood. “
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Farnoush Amiri is a member of the body of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit services program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.
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Kryska reported from Hoboken, New Jersey.