Columbus police show video of officer fatally shooting teenage girl
Hazel Washington is embraced after addressing a crowd with her anger at the Columbus Police at the shooting of her niece following a fatal police shooting on Apr 20, 2021. (Photo: AP/Brooke LaValley/Columbus Dispatch)
COLUMBUS: Police shot and killed a teenage girl on Tuesday (Apr 20) afternoon in Columbus just as the verdict was being announced in the trial for the killing of George Floyd.
Police showed bodycam footage Tuesday night at a news conference of the officer shooting the girl as she appeared to attempt to stab two people with a knife.
A black-handled blade resembling a kitchen knife or steak knife appeared to be lying on the sidewalk next to her immediately after she fell.
Officers had responded to an attempted stabbing call when police shot the girl at about 4.45pm local time, police said. The 911 caller reported a female was trying to stab them before hanging up, they said.
The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Nobody else was injured, police said.
“This afternoon a young woman tragically lost her life," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther tweeted.
He later said at the news conference, “We know based on this footage the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community.”
READ:Â Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict a 'giant step' toward justice in the United States: Biden
Police who answered the department's phone and officers on scene were not immediately able to provide details to The Associated Press.
A crowd had gathered Tuesday night at the scene on Legion Lane, which police had partially blocked off to traffic. Others gathered at the city's police headquarters to protest, a week after officers pepper-sprayed a group that tried to enter the headquarters over the police killing of a man who had a gun in a hospital emergency room.
The shooting happened about 25 minutes before a judge read the verdict convicting former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the killing of Floyd.
Kimberly Shepherd, 50, who has lived in the neighborhood for 17 years, said she knew the victim.
“The neighborhood has definitely went through its changes, but nothing like this,” Shepherd said of the shooting. “But this is the worst thing that has ever happened out here and unfortunately it is at the hands of police.”
Shepherd and her neighbor Jayme Jones, 51, had celebrated the guilty verdict of Chauvin. But things changed quickly, she said.
“We were happy about the verdict. But you couldn’t even enjoy that," Shepherd said. “Because as you’re getting one phone call that he was guilty, I’m getting the next phone call that this is happening in my neighborhood.”
