Democrats condemn Ma’Khia Bryant shooting despite bodycam footage showing 15-year-old wielding knife

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for April 21

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Democrats have been quick to condemn the police shooting of 15-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, even after body camera footage showed Ma'Khia charging at another nearby female while raising an apparent knife in the air.

"While the verdict was being read in the Derek Chauvin trial, Columbus police shot and killed a sixteen-year-old girl. Her name was Ma’Khia Bryant. She should be alive right now," Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Black girls deserve girlhood — uninterrupted. Black girls deserve to grow up and become women," Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., wrote on Twitter.

George Floyd's family's attorney Ben Crump referred to Ma'Khia as "unarmed" in a tweet.

"As we breathed a collective sigh of relief today, a community in Columbus felt the sting of another police shooting as @ColumbusPolice killed an unarmed 15 [year old] Black girl named Makiyah Bryant. Another child lost! Another hashtag," Crump wrote on Twitter.

Police were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday on a report of someone attempting to stab others at a home.

As soon as police pulled up, a young female can be seen tackling another female to the ground with what appeared to be a knife in her hand. The girl can then be seen charging at another nearby female while raising the apparent knife in the air, at which point the officer fired multiple shots, fatally wounding the girl. 

COLUMBUS SHOOTING: PROTESTERS GATHER AT POLICE HEADQUARTERS AFTER TEEN FATALLY SHOT BY OFFICER

Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the whole situation is a tragedy.

In an image from police bodycam video that the Columbus Police Department played during a news conference Tuesday night, April 20, 2021, a teenage girl, foreground, appears to wield a knife during an altercation before being shot by a police officer Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Columbus, Ohio. (Columbus Police Department via WSYX-TV via AP)

"It’s a tragic day in the city of Columbus. It's a horrible, heartbreaking situation," Ginther said Tuesday night. "The city of Columbus lost a 15-year-old girl today. We know based on this footage, the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community. But a family is grieving tonight. And this young 15-year-old girl will never be coming home."

Ma'Khia's family identified her to FOX 28. According to Franklin County Children Services, Bryant was a foster child under their care. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This is not the only recent officer-involved shooting in Columbus. Officer Adam Coy is currently facing a murder charge in the fatal shooting of Andre Hill on Dec. 22 as Hill was emerging from a garage holding up a cellphone, officials previously said.

Fox News' Paul Best and David Aaro contributed to this report.