New footage and recordings of 9-1-1 calls reveal more detail about the Tuesday killing of Ma’Khia Bryant by a Columbus Police Department officer.
Columbus police officials held a press conference on Wednesday, playing body cam videos from two more responding officers. Footage from the officer who shot and killed Bryant had already been released.
Officials also released a higher-quality version of footage from the shooting officer, as well as two 9-1-1 calls that preceded the killing.
The first call included audio of a woman telling police that her grandmother was apparently under attack. The audio is filled with chaotic noises that make it difficult to understand, and concludes with a scream before the line cuts out.
Family members of Bryant’s told local media that Bryant had been the one to call 9-1-1; police maintain that they don’t know the identity of the caller.
Officials also played the audio of a second 9-1-1 call, placed as police arrived on the scene. That caller hung up upon realizing that officers were already there.
Body cam footage from the shooting officer shows that around 10 seconds elapsed between when the video begins as he exits his squad car and when he fires his gun at Bryant.
In that time, Bryant and another girl tumble over each other. Bryant then lunges at another person, all gathered on a suburban driveway. As Bryant approaches that person, the officer fires several times.
Bryant collapses, and video shows the officer repeating to bystanders, “she had a knife” and “she came at her with a knife.”
One male onlooker replies by yelling at the officer, “she’s a fucking kid, man! Are you stupid? She’s a fucking kid!”
Body camera footage from the two other officers shows them detaining others apparently involved in the altercation. One of those officers, footage shows, renders first aid to Bryant as her breathing becomes more labored.
It remains unclear whether Bryant was armed at the time of the shooting. One video released by police shows what appears to be a kitchen knife lying next to Bryant after the shooting.
The killing caused protests to immediately erupt both at the site of the shooting and also in front of police headquarters in Columbus. It occurred 20 minutes before the judge in the Derek Chauvin trial announced that the former Minneapolis Police Department officer had been found guilty on all counts.
