On April 20, 2021, Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old girl,[1] was fatally shot by police officer Nicholas Reardon in southeast Columbus, Ohio.[2] Released body camera and security camera footage show Bryant brandishing a knife and charging two women consecutively, leading up to the moment Officer Reardon fired four shots; Bryant was struck at least once.[3][4][5] Bryant immediately collapsed and was unresponsive. Reardon and other officers on the scene administered first aid, and she was transported to the hospital in critical condition, where she was later pronounced dead.[6] Reactions from the public included both support of the actions of the officer and protests against the killing.[7][8][9] The case was investigated by state authorities and then referred to local authorities.[10][11] The case went to a grand jury and on March 11, 2022, it declined to charge Reardon.[12] Her shooting, which prevented her from stabbing another girl, was later deemed a justifiable homicide.
Ma'Khia Bryant was a 16-year-old black girl who lived in suburban Columbus, Ohio.[1][13] In February 2019, she and three of her siblings were removed from their mother and lived with their paternal grandmother for 16 months.[1][14] After the landlord refused to allow their grandmother to have the children, Bryant and her sister were placed in group homes in foster care with the Franklin County Children Services system.[1][15][16] On February 14, 2021, she moved into the private foster home where the shooting later occurred, joining her 15-year-old sister who had already been living there for a year.[15][17][18] Bryant's foster mother described her as a quiet, untroubled girl who did not start fights.[1]
Nicholas Reardon is a police officer who was 23 years old at the time of the incident,[1] and had been hired by the Columbus Division of Police in December 2019. He served in the Ohio Air National Guard 121st Security Forces Squadron for almost two years before becoming a police officer.[15]
Bryant and her younger sister resided in foster care at the home of Angela Moore.[1] On April 20, 2021, one of Moore's former foster children, a young Black woman, Tionna Bonner, aged 22, was alone with Bryant and her younger sister after they returned home from school.[1] Following a dispute over housework, Bonner called another former foster child of Moore's, Shai-Onta Lana Craig-Watkins, age 20, and Bryant's sister called her grandmother.[1] When Moore came home from work, she was told that Bryant and the two women were arguing about housekeeping.[19] Bryant's sister and grandmother have said Bonner pulled out a knife, and Bryant took a steak knife from the kitchen.[1]
Bryant's sister called 911 at 4:32 p.m., saying, "We got Angie's grown girls trying to fight us, trying to stab us, trying to put her hands on our grandma. Get here now!"[1] Around 4:45 pm EDT, officers from the Columbus Division of Police responded to a 911 call reporting an attempted stabbing at the foster home.[2][19]
As Officer Reardon arrived at the home, surveillance footage from multiple angles showed several people in the driveway, including Bryant, who had emerged from behind the house. Reardon can be heard saying, "Hey. What's going on?" Bryant then pushed Craig-Watkins[20] in front of Reardon and fell over her. Bryant's father, who had arrived earlier to aid his daughters, tried to kick Craig-Watkins.[1] Reardon drew his service pistol and shouted "Hey!" four times.[21]