Ma’Khia Bryant Killed in Officer-Involved Shooting Tuesday

On Tuesday, right before the Minneapolis jury delivered their guilty verdict to Derek Chauvin, the policer officer convicted of the death of George Floyd, police in Columbus, OH killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.

Police were called to a Columbus home late Tuesday afternoon, and body-camera video shows several people fighting upon arrival. Officer Nick Reardon draws his gun as the fight unfolds.

The Columbus Dispatch first reported Ma’Khia appears to swing a knife at a girl on the hood of a car in the video before Reardon fires his gun what sounds like four times, striking Ma’Khia, who was given CPR as medics arrived before being pronounced dead at 5:21 p.m.

Her mother Paula Bryant spoke about the death of her daughter, “Ma’Khia was a sweet little girl. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”

Don Bryant, a cousin of Ma’Khia’s mother, remembered her as someone who “… had a lot of love for her family,” continuing, “She was just a teenage girl, and this was an unnecessary loss of life. It’s a tragedy.”

Protestors quickly responded, filling the streets and demanding justice for Bryant, later protesting outside of police headquarters.

NOW: A family member said 15-year-old Makiyah Bryant was shot and killed by police.

Protesters continuing to gather outside of the scene on Legion Lane.

Mayor Ginther said body-cam footage is being reviewed. @wsyx6 @fox28columbus pic.twitter.com/zxzJCcMpvd

— Kalea Gunderson (@KaleaGunderson) April 21, 2021

Protests continued Wednesday at Ohio State University, and hundreds of students demanded the college cut ties with the Columbus police department following the incident.

The White House has since commented on the shooting.

“She was a child,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday. “We’re thinking of her friends and family in the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss. We know that police violence disproportionately impacts Black and Latino people in communities and that Black women and girls, like Black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence. We also know that there are particular vulnerabilities that children in foster care, like Ma’Khia, face.”

Psaki also noted Ma’Khia’s death at the hands of police comes “… just as America was hopeful of a step forward after the traumatic and exhausting trial of Derek Chauvin and the verdict that was reached.”

This was not the only fatal, officer-involved shooting incident involving a Black person the week of the Tuesday verdict; Deputies were serving an arrest warrant to Andrew Brown Jr. on Wednesday in Elizabeth City, NC when, according to a witness, Brown attempted to drive away and was fatally shot. He was unarmed, according the the Brown family’s attorney Harry Daniels, who is also demanding immediate release of the body camera footage.

Demetria Williams, who lives on the same street, told Associated Press, “When they opened the door he was already dead. He was slumped over.” She also said officers tried to perform chest compressions on him.

“The issue will likely come down to whether our deputies had reason to believe Mr. Brown’s actions put them at risk for serious injury or death. We will not offer an opinion on this because we do not have all the facts,” Chief Deputy Daniel Fogg said in a video statement.

Many activists and groups indicated these two incidents immediately following the verdict are further evidence of the deeper issue with systemic police violence against Black people in the U.S. An Insider report shows that there were only 18 days in 2020 that police did not kill someone, and nearly 30 of those killed were Black.

“No verdict will ever be enough to heal the pain of generations of Black folks,” the Transgender Law Center tweeted. “No verdict can solve the crisis of centuries of violence against Black people at the hands of the police.”

This is a developing story. Stay with OFM for more updates.

Photo courtesy of the Bryant family.