COLUMBUS (Ohio) • Police in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday fatally shot a black teenage girl they confronted as she lunged at two people with a knife, as seen in police video footage of the encounter.
The incident, sparking street protests in Ohio's largest city, came as the nation was focused on the guilty verdict a jury returned against a white former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering Mr George Floyd last year by kneeling on his neck.
Releasing police body-camera video of Tuesday's shooting hours later, the interim Columbus police chief Michael Woods said officers involved were responding to an emergency 911 call from someone who reported an attempted stabbing at a home on the city's south-east side.
Arriving police encountered a chaotic scene of several people on the front lawn where the teenager in question, brandishing a knife, charged towards one woman who fell backwards, then lunged at a second woman, the video showed.
A slow-motion replay of the video showed the second victim stumbling backwards against a car parked in the driveway as the knife-wielding youth raised the weapon as if about to stab her, and an officer opened fire.
The teenager immediately collapsed against the parked car and onto the ground. The weapon, which appeared to be a kitchen-style knife, was seen lying near her as an officer crouched at her side to render medical aid.
The authorities described the youth who was fatally shot as a 15-year-old girl. But family members have identified her as Makiyah Bryant, aged 16.
The police chief said the video, which he said showed the slain teenager trying to stab both women, was released to the public within hours of the incident in the interest of transparency. The officer who opened fire was not identified but appeared from the video to be white. The chief said he "would be taken off the street" pending an investigation.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) has opened an inquiry into the case. The city's public safety director Ned Pettus Jr appealed for calm while the investigation proceeds and facts are uncovered in what he called "a devastating" loss of life.
"BCI will conduct a fully independent investigation, which will be made public. If an officer has violated policy or the law, if they have, they will be held accountable," Mr Pettus said.
Mayor Andrew Ginther said it appeared from an initial review of the footage that the officer who opened fire took action to protect another young girl in the community. "But another young girl will still not be coming home tonight," he said.
REUTERS
