COLUMBUS (US), April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police shot and killed a teenage girl 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.
In an unprecedented move, Columbus police later showed body camera footage of an officer shooting the girl, who was Black, as she appeared to attempt to stab two people with a knife.
The video shows an officer approaching a driveway with a group of young people standing there. In the video, it appears that the teenager, who was moments later shot by police, pushes or swings at a person who falls to the ground.
As the footage continues, the teenager then appears to swing a knife at a girl who is on the hood of a car, and the officer fires his weapon what sounds like four times, striking the girl.
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.”
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. — NNN-AGENCIES