CNN
—
A police officer in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on murder charges for the killing of a pregnant woman suspected of shoplifting last year, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said.
Ta’Kiya Young, 21, was shot and killed by a police officer in her vehicle in the parking lot of a Kroger grocery store in Blendon Township on August 24, 2023. Her unborn child did not survive.
Blendon Township police Officer Connor Grubb is charged with four counts of murder, four counts of aggravated assault and two counts of involuntary manslaughter in a grand jury indictment, according to a statement from District Attorney Mat Heck Jr.’s office.
“While it is troubling that an officer who swore to uphold the law has been charged with murder, no one is above the law,” the prosecutor said.
Redacted body camera footage and surveillance video of the shooting released in the weeks afterward showed that two police officers confronted her in her vehicle about shoplifting. As the car drove toward an officer standing outside the vehicle, the officer fired a single shot into her windshield, killing her, the video shows.
Young family attorney Sean Walton praised the prosecution in a statement, saying August 1 would have been Young’s 22nd birthday.
“Today marks a solemn victory in the pursuit of justice for Ta’Kiya Young and her unborn daughter, whose lives were tragically and unjustly ended at the hands of Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb,” Walton said in a statement.
“The actions that led to Ta’Kiya’s death – the unnecessary aggression, the horrific orders that amounted to ‘obey or die’ – were all witnessed in horrific clarity. Ta’Kiya’s life and that of her daughter were snuffed out in an act of brutality, further symbolizing the urgent need for police conduct reform and accountability.”
The charges come amid increased scrutiny of police violence against black people in the United States. In general, police officers are rarely charged in such cases and convictions are even rarer.
Shortly after the shooting, police described the two officers as victims of assault and therefore withheld their identities and pixelated their faces on the video. In a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday, Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the department is now legally obligated to take disciplinary action against Grubb.
“I want to be very clear: We are not making a judgment about whether Officer Grubb acted correctly. We have not seen the evidence,” he said. “However, because the individuals charged may not be allowed to possess a firearm, the charges against him leave us with no choice but to pursue disciplinary action.”
Brian Steel, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge #9, the local police union, said in a statement Tuesday that he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision to bring charges against Grubb.
“Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar to those who protect our communities,” Steel said. “These decisions are made under extreme pressure and often in life-threatening situations, with the primary goal being to protect the lives of the community and their own lives.”
Grubb’s arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m.
The police shooting occurred on a Thursday evening in the parking lot in front of Kroger.
Surveillance footage from inside the store shows Young walking around the store and packing several bottles of alcohol into her purse. She stood in line at the checkout before she and two other women left the store, the video shows.
As the women left the store and walked to a vehicle, alarms went off, police reported. A grocery store employee informed officers that a woman who had stolen bottles of alcohol was sitting in a car parked in front of the store, police said.
Police body camera video shows an officer approaching Young’s driver’s window and repeatedly ordering her to get out of the car. A second officer, also wearing a body camera, then stepped in front of the vehicle.
“You said you stole something… get out of the car,” said the officer at the window.
“I didn’t steal anything,” Young replied, and the two argued with the window slightly open.
“Get out of the damn car,” said the officer standing outside the car. He drew his gun and placed his left hand on the hood of the car, the video shows.
At one point Young said, “Are you going to shoot me?”
Young is then seen turning the steering wheel of the car while the police officer next to her window continues to urge her to exit the vehicle.
“Get out of that damn car,” repeated the police officer in front of the car.
The vehicle began to move forward slowly, as the video shows. After a few seconds, the officer standing in front of the vehicle fired once through the windshield.
After the shooting, officers ran alongside the car and yelled at the driver to stop. The car rolled between two brick pillars onto a sidewalk and into a building. Officers called for backup and smashed the window to get to the driver, who had apparently slumped to the side.
An autopsy revealed she died from a gunshot wound to the heart. Her fetus was estimated to be between 25 and 28 weeks pregnant, according to the Franklin County Coroner’s Office.
