A security camera from a neighbor’s home revealed a new angle of the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old girl wielding a knife on Tuesday.
The video, taken from the perspective of a house across the street, shows a police car quickly pulling up and the driving officer getting out of the car immediately, according to the ABC6 WSYX. The officer, later identified as Nicholas Reardon, is seen approaching the group of people, who appeared to be in a heated argument.
The fighting continues as he approaches the group, with a couple of people stumbling to the ground entangled. It appears that that is when he draws his weapon. A woman in pink takes a couple of steps toward the people engaged in the tussle when Ma’Khia Bryant, a black 16-year-old girl, turns toward her, lunges in her direction, and starts to swing a knife toward her. Reardon shot her four times, and she dropped to the ground.
In the immediate days that followed, Reardon’s body camera footage was the only video released of the shooting.
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Medics were called, according to police, and Bryant was taken to a local hospital in critical condition before she was declared dead. Police initially responded to the report of an attempted stabbing in the city’s southeast side.
Reardon “will be taken off the street,” according to interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods.
City officials provided an update on Wednesday, releasing audio of the 911 calls and more body camera video, which included an officer walking alongside the female in pink who was attacked by Bryant. She told the officer as they got into a police car that the teenager “came after me” and acknowledged that Bryant had a knife.
The shooting sparked a renewed controversy over the interactions between police and black people. It happened moments before former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a 45-year-old white man, was found guilty on all charges, including second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, in connection to the May 2020 death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man.
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On Sunday, April 11, Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in which officers discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest. The officer, Kim Potter, shot him as he attempted to get back into his car to flee, though officials believe she meant to stun him with a Taser him. She has been arrested on manslaughter charges. Wright’s funeral was on Thursday.
The Columbus Police Department declined to comment on the video, noting that the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation. The bureau did not immediately return a request for comment.
