While carrying out an arrest warrant, a Columbus police officer fatally shot a 20-year-old unarmed Black man who was sitting in bed and possibly holding a ‘vape pen,’ per NBC News.
On Tuesday (August 30), body camera footage was released in a media briefing hours after the fatal police shooting of Donovan Lewis.
“A mother has lost her son today in the city of Columbus,” Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a statement.
Earlier that morning, officers arrived at a Columbus apartment to serve a warrant for improperly handling a firearm, assault, and domestic violence, according to court records.
The body camera footage shows officers knocking on the apartment’s front door before a man answers and is detained.
A second man standing at the entrance of the apartment was also taken into custody, per WCMH.
In the video, officers make their way inside the apartment with a police dog.
The K9 later appears to be barking at a back bedroom door. Officer Ricky Anderson, who is handling the dog, then pushes the door open and opens fire.
Chief Elaine Bryant said Anderson pulled the trigger after Lewis appeared to raise a hand that was holding something.
No weapon was found at the scene, but what seemed to be a “vape pen” was found “on the bed right next to” Lewis, Bryant noted.
According to police, officers provided aid to the 20-year-old until medics show up at the scene and transported him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead less than an hour after the shooting.
Anderson, a 30-year police veteran, has been placed on leave as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigates the deadly incident.
“Donovan Lewis lost his life,” Bryant said. “As a parent, I sympathize and grieve with his mother. As a community, I grieve with our community, but we’re going to allow this investigation to take place.”
Watch the body camera footage here.
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