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Police have defended the fatal shooting of teenager Ma’Khia Bryant as they named the officer involved as Nicholas Reardon.
Columbus Police Department’s interim police chief Michael Woods announced that it was Officer Reardon who fired the shots that killed the 16-year-old.
The Black youngster was gunned down by the officer, just as the verdict in the George Floyd trial came in, after police were called with the report of a stabbing at a home in the Ohio city.
Officials say that Officer Reardon has been a Columbus police officer since December 2019, and he has been placed on leave while the incident is investigated.
Chief Lee was asked by reporters on Wednesday why Ma’Khia had not been shot in a less lethal area, like the leg, and he defended the officer’s actions.
“We don’t train to shoot the leg because that’s a small target. We train to shoot center mass …There was a deadly force threat that was going on,” he said.
He added that the force’s firearms training dictates that an officer fires until the threat is over.
And he said that the use of force is authorised if the safety of the officer or a third person is in jeopardy.
Police have released the body camera video footage of the incident from the officer involved in the shooting, and two other officers.
The police chief said that two officers performed life-saving measures on Ma’Khia before help arrived, and that medics were called 90 seconds after the shots were fired.
He added that a medic arrived at the scene within six minutes and transported the teenager to hospital where she died from her wounds.
“It’s a tragedy. There’s no other way to say it. It’s a 16-year-old girl. I’m a father. Her family is grieving. Regardless of the circumstances, a 16-year-old girl is dead. I sure as hell wish it hadn’t happened,” he said.
The body camera footage, which was released within six hours of the killing, showed officers approaching a driveway at the home they had been called to.
There were multiple young women in the driveway, and one, now identified as Ma’Khia, had a knife in her hand and was approaching another young woman.
When the woman fell to the ground, Ma’Khia is seen moving towards another woman, who is against a car.
The officer then fired his weapon, with four shots being heard on the video, and Ma’Khia fell to the ground.
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