Protesters wrote Ma’Khia Byrant’s name in chalk on steps. Credit: Christian Harsa | Asst. Photo Editor
Columbus Police released more information Wednesday surrounding the Tuesday police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, including the name of the officer who shot her, 911 calls, additional body camera footage and information about medical care given to Bryant.
In a Wednesday press conference, Interim Chief of Columbus Police Michael Woods identified the officer who shot Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl, as Nicholas Reardon.
Reardon, who has been with Columbus Police since December 2019, was responding at 4:44 p.m. to a 911 call about a disturbance.
Body camera footage initially released Tuesday night, shows Reardon exiting his vehicle and approaching a group of people. In the videos, the victim appears to raise a knife to two females, pushing one on the ground and the other against a car.
Two additional body camera videos were released Wednesday. The first of the two showed an officer approaching the scene shortly after Reardon shot Bryant. That officer escorted one of the witnesses to a police car. The second video shows another officer approaching Bryant and administering medical care, including CPR.
Woods said emergency medical services were called 90 seconds after Reardon first fired his weapon.
Columbus Police’s involvement with the case ended with sequestering witnesses and providing medical care, Woods said. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation responded to the scene and began an independent investigation, as it does when Columbus Police shoot someone.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the city’s residents should wait for BCI’s findings before making any conclusions.
“We’ll release all other information that we can as soon as we can. We also need to be careful about not compromising the investigation being conducted by BCI,” Ginther said. “We believe that transparency with the public is the utmost priority during this difficult time.”
When asked about the response time to the calls, Woods said the call was second priority because it was for a disturbance rather than an attempted stabbing.
