Bethany Bruner,Cole BehrensColumbus Dispatch
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Around 6:20 p.m. Aug. 24, a Blendon Township police officer fatally shot a pregnant 21-year-old woman in the parking lot of the Kroger store at 5991 S. Sunbury Road.
The following afternoon, Blendon Township police Chief John Belford released a statement detailing what led up to the shooting.
The Franklin County Coroner's office confirmed the woman's identity as Ta'Kiya Young, 21, of Columbus. The coroner's office also confirmed Young was pregnant at the time of her death and the fetus did not survive.
The shooting was the second fatal shooting involving law enforcement in Franklin County within 24 hours and the fourth in August. Around 10:40 p.m. Aug. 23, a Columbus police officer fatally shot 36-year-old Jamie Overstreet during a foot chase.
Police accused Overstreet, who had multiple warrants out for his arrest for alleged violations of a protection order, of pulling a gun during the chase, and a gun was found at the scene. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.
Here's a look at what we know — and what we don't — about Young's shooting.
Who was involved?
The Franklin County Coroner's office identified the woman who was shot as 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young. The identities of officers involved have not been released.
Evidence visible at the scene indicated Young was the driver of a dark-colored four-door sedan. The car was on the sidewalk and appeared to hit an outside wall of the Kroger, near the walk-up pharmacy window.
A Dispatch reporter saw the driver's side door of the sedan was open at the scene, and there was what appeared to be signs of an injury and medical treatment near where the car was.
Videos taken at the scene by bystanders appear to show emergency medical personnel providing treatment to Young, including CPR, while she was on a gurney.
Young's family said the officer involved is Connor Grubb; however, Blendon Township has not confirmed this information, citing Marsy's Law.
What happened before the shooting?
Chief Belford said a store employee flagged down two officers who were helping someone with car problems in the Kroger parking lot were flagged. The employee alerted the officers to multiple people, including Young, who had allegedly stolen items from the store. The other suspects fled in other vehicles.
Belford said one officer approached the driver's side of Young's vehicle while the other moved in front of it. They told her more than a dozen times to get out of the vehicle and to stop, he said.
Young put the vehicle in gear, Belford said, and the vehicle moved forward, directly toward the officer in front of her vehicle. That officer fired a single gunshot through the windshield, hitting Young. The officers ran after Young's vehicle, which went about 50 feet and onto the sidewalk in front of the store's walk-up pharmacy, where it hit a wall.
Belford said the officers broke the window on the driver's side of Young's car in order to get her out and began medical treatment immediately. An emergency room doctor in the parking lot also provided assistance until paramedics arrived, Belford said.
The officers did not know that Young was pregnant, as she was in the car before they approached her, Belford said.
Who was killed?
Ta'Kiya Young, 21, died at Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital in Westerville, where paramedics took her after the shooting.
Young's family said she was was expecting a baby girl in November.
What has Ta'Kiya Young's family said?
Young's grandmother, Nadine Young, told a Dispatch reporter a day after the shooting that she had not yet spoken to anyone from BCI or seen body camera footage.
"All I know is that my granddaughter was killed by the police," she said. "I thought she was grocery shopping."
The elder Young said she had raised her granddaughter for most of her life and was excited to have another great-grandchild. Ta'Kiya Young had a 6-year-old and 3-year-old son, her family said.
Nadine Young described her granddaughter, who had just turned 21 in August, as a "goofy, fun-loving person" who enjoyed pranks.
The family is being represented by local attorney Sean Walton, who has represented the families of other people killed by police in Franklin County. Walton said any witnesses to the shooting should call his law firm.
Other family members have posted memories and photos of Young on social media, expressing their shock and anger over her death.
Young's family has called for the termination, arrest and prosecution of the officer involved.
Was the shooting captured on body camera video?
Blendon Township officers do wear body cameras, according to information provided to the Dispatch in 2021 by Chief John Belford.
The body camera footage of the shooting was released Sept. 1.
Why is BCI investigating the shooting?
Belford told reporters in the hours after the shooting that he requested BCI conduct an outside investigation.
Having BCI handle police shooting investigations has become common practice around the state, with agencies like Columbus police asking the state agency to handle all investigations in which an officer shoots and injures or kills someone.
Where is Blendon Township?
Blendon Township is located near Westerville in northeastern Franklin County. The township police department had 17 officers as of October 2022.
When will more information be released?
An autopsy report is being completed by the Franklin County Coroner's office. Coroner's reports take several weeks to be completed.
BCI's investigation is also ongoing.
What happens next in the investigation?
An autopsy will be conducted by the Franklin County Coroner's office.
When BCI's investigation is completed, it will be sent to the Franklin County Prosecutor's office for review. The prosecutor's office policy has been to present all fatal shootings involving police to a grand jury for review of possible criminal charges.
Can the Civilian Police Review Board look at this case?
The Columbus Civilian Police Review Board cannot review this case because the board only looks at matters involving Columbus police officers.
Prominent gun violence activist was teacher of killed woman
Malissa Thomas-St. Clair, co-founder of Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, said at a small demonstration of about 15 people outside the Kroger store late Friday afternoon that she was Young's teacher.
A teacher at Columbus City Schools' Champion Elementary, Thomas-St. Clair remembers Young as tenacious and someone who worked through adversity in her life toward graduation from high school.
"Young people make mistakes, but because I make mistakes, I should learn from them and not die from them," she said.
While her organization's advocacy typically focuses on the plague of street violence, she said she thinks Blendon Township police "got it wrong" in shooting Young"
"When I'm hearing that shoplifting now equates with losing your life — and you're pregnant?" Thomas-St. Clair said. "That deserves outrage."
Fraternal Order of Police: 'Guns not the only danger officers face'
In a Friday release, Brian Steel, executive vice president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9, said "guns are not the only danger officers face," vnoting that ehicles are also deadly weapons when used with the intent of harm.
"But regardless of the circ*mstances, the death in this case is heartbreaking," Steel said. "The lodge extends its condolences to the family for its loss of this young woman."
Have there been other violent incidents at this Kroger store?
In January, a 24-year-old woman who had been shot at another location was found in her car in the Kroger parking lot. The woman, Amara Jones, had driven to the Kroger after the shooting.
The suspect in the case, Rodney Perry, was arrested and charged with murder. His trial is currently scheduled for September.
Additionally, there have been two fatal shootings at other Kroger stores in the Columbus area this year involving armed security guards hired by the store.
Kroger did not respond to a call from The Dispatch for comment about Thursday's fatal shooting.
Dispatch reporter Mark Ferenchik contributed to this story.
bbruner@dispatch.com
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