- The police in Columbus, Ohio, identified the officer who shot and killed Ma'Khia Bryant.
- The police said Nicholas Reardon fired the shot that killed Bryant.
- The department hired Reardon in December 2019.
The police in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday identified Nicholas Reardon as the police officer who shot and killed 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant on Tuesday.
Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said at a press conference that Reardon joined the department in December 2019.
Officers had been called to the Walnut Hills area of Columbus at 4:36 p.m. on Tuesday because of reports of girls fighting. Officers arrived in less than 10 minutes.
Earlier Wednesday, the police released audio of the 911 call that led officers to the property on Tuesday. In the call, a woman can be heard talking to a dispatcher, and angry voices can be heard in the background.
The woman said people were "over here trying to fight us, trying to stab us, trying to put hands on our grandma."
The police also released bodycam footage of the shooting. In it, Bryant runs into view before appearing to push a girl to the ground. Bryant runs away from the officer and appears to swing what the police described as a knife at another girl.
Four gunshots can be heard before Bryant drops what appears to be a knife and falls to the ground. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital about a half-hour later.
Bryant's killing sparked protests on Tuesday night in Columbus. The shooting happened less than a half-hour before the announcement that jurors in Minneapolis had found the former officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all charges in his killing of George Floyd last May.
Floyd's murder sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and calls for police reform and abolition.