Police shot and killed a 16-year-old Black girl 20 minutes before the Chauvin verdict was announced

• The police in Columbus, Ohio, killed a Black girl on Tuesday just before the Derek Chauvin verdict.
• The police said officers had been responding to an attempted-stabbing call.
• Officials shared body-camera footage of the shooting during a press conference on Tuesday night.

The police in Columbus, Ohio, killed a Black teenage girl on Tuesday afternoon just as a jury returned a guilty verdict for the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.

The girl, Ma'khia Bryant, was pronounced dead soon after the shooting.

Bryant's mother and local officials told reporters that Bryant was 16. A woman who said she was Bryant's aunt initially said the girl was 15.

A crowd gathered on Tuesday evening at the site of the shooting. The police said officers had been responding to an attempted-stabbing call.

The Columbus Police Department said a victim had died in a "police-involved shooting" on the east side of Columbus on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials later released a graphic bodycam video of the shooting. In it, Bryant lunges at another girl with an item, which the police said was a knife, then an officer shoots her.

The police said that they received the stabbing call at about 4:30 p.m. local time and that a call reporting shots fired came in at 4:45 p.m.

Bryant was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition and died at about 5:20 p.m., WCMH, a local NBC affiliate, reported.

A public-information officer for the Columbus police did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The shooting happened about 20 minutes before a judge in Minneapolis read the Chauvin verdict, drawing international attention to police violence in the US.

Hazel Bryant, who said she was Bryant's aunt, told The Columbus Dispatch that her niece lived in a foster home and had gotten into an altercation with someone else there.

She told the outlet that her niece had a knife but dropped it before the officer shot her multiple times.

Paula Bryant, who said she was Bryant's mother, told a local reporter, Lacey Crisp, that her daughter was an honor-roll student and a sweet child.

A video from the scene posted on Facebook showed someone wearing brightly colored shoes lying on the ground as an officer stood nearby. People could be heard yelling at the police in the video.

Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a tweet on Tuesday evening that "a young woman tragically lost her life."

Ginther asked residents to remain calm as the Bureau of Criminal Investigations investigated the shooting.

Public Safety Director Ned Pettus said in a statement on Tuesday night: "The death of a 15-year-old child is devastating. She could be my grandchild. My heart breaks for her family tonight."

A crowd grew as the evening went on, chanting "Black Lives Matter" and asking officers for footage of the shooting.

Alexis Moberger, a reporter for WSYX, captured a video of Bryant's aunt discussing her niece's death.

"She didn't deserve to die like a dog on the street," she said.