COLUMBUS, Ohio (WJW/AP) — A fight that ended with the shooting death of Ma’Khia Bryant by a Columbus police officer started over a messy house, according to the 16-year-old’s foster parent.
Angela Moore told CNN two of her former foster children went to her home that day to help celebrate her birthday. They and Ma’Khia began arguing over keeping the house clean, she said.
“So, that’s how it all started,” Moore told CNN.
Bryant was shot and killed by an officer on the east side of Columbus Tuesday evening.
Police body camera footage showed the teen swinging a knife toward two other girls before the fatal shots were fired. Moore told CNN the girl in pink shown in the footage was one of the former foster children.
The 10-second police body camera clip begins with an officer, identified Wednesday as Nicholas Reardon, getting out of his car at the home.
The officer, who was hired by the force in December 2019, is seen taking a few steps toward a group of people in the driveway when Bryant starts swinging a knife wildly at another girl or woman, who falls backward. The officer shouts several times to get down.
Bryant then charges at another girl or woman, who is pinned against a car.
From a few feet away, with people on either side of him, the officer fires four shots, and Bryant slumps to the ground. A black-handled blade similar to a kitchen knife or steak knife lies on the sidewalk next to her.
A man immediately yells at the officer, “You didn’t have to shoot her! She’s just a kid, man!”
The officer responds, “She had a knife. She just went at her.”
Bryant was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Bryant was in foster care through Franklin County Children’s Services at the time of her death.
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