April 24, 2021
SHOW TRANSCRIPT
In the hours before and after the man charged with killing George Floyd was pronounced guilty, a blitz of police shootings occurred across America.
This story may be graphic and hard to watch for some viewers.
Less than 30 minutes before Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted in Minneapolis, a Black 16-year-old, Ma Khia Bryant, was shot at four times by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. She was killed by the responding officer as she aimed a knife at a young woman during a fight. Bryant s family say Bryant actually had been the one who called police - asking for help against others trying to fight her.
By Sarah Polus - 04/24/21 04:47 PM EDT
Witnesses at the scene when 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was shot and killed said that the police officer involved had no regard for her life, The Associated Press reports.
On Tuesday, Bryant was fatally shot in the back four times by a Columbus, Ohio, police officer, according to body camera footage released this week.
The officer, identified as Nicholas Reardon, shot at Bryant after she appeared to lunge at another person at the scene. He claimed in the footage that she had a knife in her hand.
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Following the shooting, witnesses at the scene slammed the police officer, stating that he could have de-escalated the situation instead of opening fire.
Ned Pettus:
Under any circumstance, that is a horrendous tragedy. But the video shows that there is more to this. It requires us to pause, take a close look at the sequence of events and, though it s not easy, wait for the facts, as determined by an independent investigation.
John Yang:
A day later, a white police officer shot and killed a 40-year-old Black man in Elizabeth city, North Carolina. Police have yet to release bodycam footage.
Woman:
John Yang:
The shootings are a reminder of the unending pattern of killings of Black Americans, often at the hands of the police, who, despite the Chauvin conviction, are rarely convicted of a crime.
Columbus police shoot and kill a Black teenage girl
Dispatch, police received a 911 call at 4:35 p.m. reporting an attempted stabbing on the 3100 block of Legion Lane. The caller said that a female was trying to stab them, and then hung up the phone. Officers responded to the scene, and at 4:45 p.m. the police shooting was reported. Bryant was then transported to Mount Carmel East, where she was pronounced dead at 5:21 p.m., according to NBC 4. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation was on the scene Tuesday night to investigate the shooting.
“This afternoon a young woman tragically lost her life,” Mayor Andrew Ginther wrote on Twitter early Tuesday evening. “We do not know all of the details. There is body-worn camera footage of the incident. We are working to review it as soon as possible.”
Columbus cop who fatally shot Ma Khia Bryant, 16, is an expert marksman in the Air National Guard where he also serves as a military policeman
Nicholas Reardon shot Bryant at around 4.45pm on Tuesday on the 3100 block of Legion Lane while responding to a 911 call about an attempted stabbing
Reardon, a graduate of Bishop Watterson Catholic school in Columbus, was a member of the school s wrestling team
While he attended Air Force basic combat training, the school posted updates on his progress
Reardon graduated from basic combat training in August 2017 before attending the military s Security Forces Tech School at Lackland Air Force Base