Joe Biden was briefed on Wednesday of the “tragic” fatal police shooting of a 16-year-old black girl in Columbus, Ohio, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced.
A police officer shot teenage Ma’Khia Bryant on Tuesday afternoon, minutes before the jury announced its guilty verdict in Minneapolis on the George Floyd police murder, one of the most controversial such criminal cases in history.
Psaki recognized Ma’Khia’s death as a shadow, “just as America hoped for a step forward.”
‘She was a child. We think of her friends and family, in the communities that hurt and mourn her loss, ”said Psaki.
Protesters marched on Tuesday evening to denounce the murder.
Notwithstanding protocol, Columbus police officers released camera footage of the incident on Tuesday evening, shortly after it happened.
The clip shows the scene on the street where the police were sent after someone called the emergency number and claimed they were being attacked.
Ma’Khia, seemingly holding a knife, collides with two people before the officer shoots her four times and she falls to the ground next to a parked vehicle.
The city government initially said the police officer intervened to save the life of another girl who seemed to approach Bryant quickly while brandishing a kitchen knife.
On Wednesday, Mayor Andrew Ginther condemned the death of a teenager, but said, “Based on these images, we know the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community.”
State authorities are now investigating. Ned Pettus, the city’s public safety director, denounced the death at the hands of a police officer.
He said, ‘She could be my grandchild. However you look at this, it is a tragedy. I understand the outrage and emotion surrounding this incident. “
He said the video footage showed “there’s more to it”.
Hana Abdur-Rahim, of the Black Abolitionists Collective, described the continued murder of Black American by the police as genocide.
She said, “We’re fighting for our lives.”
The shooting took place in daylight for several bystanders.
“She’s a damn child, man!” a witness called out to the police.
Ma’Khia was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said. The officer who killed her has not been identified. Officials said the officer was removed from patrol.
‘I am very upset, I am hurt. I want to answer, ”said Paula Bryant, Ma’Khia’s mother.
Ma’Khia was shot less than five miles from where earlier this year the funeral of Andre Hill, who was murdered by another Columbus police officer in December, took place.
The officer in Hill’s case, Adam Coy, a 19-year veteran of the police force, is now on trial for murder and the next hearing is scheduled for April 28.
The county where Bryant was shot has one of the highest rates of police fatalities in the US, according to a recent study.
The Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Public Health released an investigation in February this year that found that between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2020, 38 people were shot and murdered by police in Franklin County, home to approximately 1.3 million people.
According to the Alliance, an average of 4.81 people per million people were killed in the county – the 18th highest rate of police shootings in America’s 100 most populous counties.
As protesters gathered near where Bryant was murdered on Tuesday, Rayshawn Whiting, who was one of them, said he had plans to visit his brother’s house and look at Chauvin’s verdict before gunshots were fired. sounded.
“I have daughters,” Whiting said. ‘And I’m tired of it. I feel like a polar bear with melting ice caps. We have nowhere to go. If we protect ourselves, we will go to jail. If we don’t, we’ll die. “
Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said state law allows police to use deadly force to protect themselves or others, and investigators will determine whether this shooting was such a case.