Officials announced that the officer was responding to a call about someone armed with a knife. Officer body-camera footage shown by police hours after the incident appeared to show the girl attempting to stab another female just before the gunfire.
City officials called the shooting a tragedy and urged calm and patience.
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Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old in the foster system, was fatally shot, Franklin County Children Services revealed Tuesday night.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther described the shooting as a "horrible, heartbreaking situation."
"We know, based on this footage, the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community. But a family is grieving tonight," he stressed.
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The shooting happened just before the nation learned of the jury's verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
"As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting," Ben Crump, the Floyd family's attorney, tweeted Tuesday evening. "... Another child lost! Another hashtag."
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Columbus Interim Police Chief Michael Woods revealed police were dispatched around 4:30 p.m. after "a caller said females were there trying to stab them and put their hands on them."
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Body-camera video appears to show two girls in a confrontation, one falling to the ground in front of the officer.
The girl who was later shot appears to move toward another person near a car, and the officer repeats, "get down" before firing four times.
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The video shows the officer later telling another officer who is attending to the shot girl, "she came at her with a knife."
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Woods said it was unusual to release police body-camera video so soon, but police wanted to be transparent about the incident and provide what answers they could.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an investigation into the shooting, and Woods said the information released Tuesday night was based on police records and did not include any interviews with officers or witnesses.
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"The death ... is devastating," Columbus Public Safety Director Ned Pettus said in a statement. "She could be my grandchild. My heart breaks for her family tonight. No matter what the circumstances, they are in agony, and they are in my prayers."
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"They deserve answers. Our city deserves answers. I want answers. But fast answers cannot come at the cost of complete accurate answers," Pettus said.
The officer, who has not been publicly identified, will be taken off street duty, Woods said.
Shortly after the shooting, a crowd gathered to protest near the home where the shooting occurred, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Tensions were already high in Columbus after the high-profile shootings of Casey Goodson and Andre Hill.
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