Columbus officials plead for time on deadly police shooting

Columbus officials asked the public for more time as authorities investigate the events surrounding the fatal police shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant on Wednesday.

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) told reporters at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that the city does not “yet have all the facts” on the recent shooting, but officials will release “all other information” as soon as possible. 

An investigation into the shooting by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) is ongoing. 

Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus on Wednesday called the recent shooting a “horrendous tragedy” but added that footage of the incident “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,” Pettus said.

“We have to ask ourselves, what information did the officer have? What did he see? How much time did he have to assess the situation? And what would have happened if he had taken no action at all?” he added.

“We don’t yet have those answers. But these are some of the questions that are asked and addressed in disciplinary hearings that come before me,” Pettus continued, pleading with the local community not to “rush to judgment.”

“Fast facts should not come at the cost of complete and accurate facts,” he said. 

The comments from the city officials come just one day after the police force released body camera footage of the incident within hours of the fatal shooting Tuesday night. 

Bryant was fatally shot by Columbus police officer Nicholas Reardon on Tuesday after the Black teenager was recorded holding a knife while charging at another female, according to The Associated Press. 

Interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods told reporters on Wednesday that police first encountered Bryant among a group of other young people after arriving outside a local residence. The police arrived after they received a call about someone being threatened.

Woods said the source of the calls was unknown.

In one call, a young female appears to be speaking, but the BCI said it will be “interviewing all the witnesses to determine who made those phone calls.”  

The shooting has gained nationwide attention in the past day amid rising tensions in the country over police brutality and the treatment of Black Americans. 

Bryant died shortly before Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the death of George Floyd, was convicted of all three counts brought against him, including second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. 

Her death also comes months after the death of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man from Columbus who was fatally shot by police. 

On Wednesday, Woods was also grilled by reporters on officers’ training and use of lethal force. 

Reporters asked Woods when an officer should deploy a taser instead of his or her service weapon.

“If there’s not deadly force being perpetrated on someone else at that time, an officer may have the opportunity to have cover distance and time to use a Taser,” Woods said. “But if those things aren’t present and there is an active assault going on in which someone could lose their life, the officer can use their firearm to protect that third person.”

Another reporter asked Woods about when an officer should shoot to wound, using the leg as an example of a nonlethal target. 

Woods called the example a “small target” that could result in a person becoming more agitated and endangering the officer.

Once the BCI’s investigation into the shooting is concluded, the findings will be sent to the Franklin County prosecutor’s office and presented to a grand jury.

Ginther said that the BCI will also determine whether the officer who fatally shot Bryant “was wrong” in his actions on Tuesday, and said the city “will hold him accountable” if so. 

UPDATED 05/09/21 at 9:36 a.m.