A community in Ohio is in tatters following the police killing of 16-year-old teenager Ma’Khia Bryant.
The killing took place just minutes before the verdict of former police officer Derek Chauvin was read out in court.
Chauvin killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Officers were dispatched to Bryant’s home after receiving a call that a group of teenagers had threatened her.
Her aunt Hazel Bryant told the Columbus Dispatch that Bryant lived in a foster home on Legion Lane. She got into an altercation with another youth at the home.
In the bodycam footage, which has already been released to the public, one of the officers is seen walking towards a driveway as a group of young people is standing by. Bryant can be seen either pushing another young girl, who then falls to the ground.
It seems to show Bryant swing a knife at another girl who is stood beside the hood of a car before the officer fires his weapon at least four times. Bryant is seen falling to the ground.
Onlookers can be heard yelling, “She’s just a kid!” and “Are you stupid?” as two officers approach Bryant, calling for medical support.
Ben Crump, Floyd family’s lawyer, was quick to speak out about the shooting.
“As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting,” Crump said. “Another child lost! Another hashtag.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bryant family at this difficult time. Another young, Black life has been abruptly taken for us. Now the community rallies together to demand #JusticeForMakhiaBryant.
