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Aug 26, 2023

Blendon Twp. police fatally shot a woman Thursday. Here's what we know

Around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, at least one Blendon Township police officer fatally shot a pregnant 21-year-old woman in the parking lot of the Kroger store located at 5991 S. Sunbury Road. On Friday

Around 6:20 p.m. Thursday, at least one Blendon Township police officer fatally shot a pregnant 21-year-old woman in the parking lot of the Kroger store located at 5991 S. Sunbury Road.

On Friday 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 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young, 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.

The shooting was the second fatal shooting involving Franklin County law enforcement within 24 hours and the fourth in August. Around 10:40 p.m. Wednesday, a Columbus police officer fatally shot 36-year-old Jamie Overstreet during a foot chase.

Police said Overstreet, who had multiple warrants out for his arrest for alleged violations of a protection order, had pulled a firearm during the chase and a firearm was recovered from the scene. BCI is investigating the shooting.

Here's a look at what we know - and what we don't - about Thursday night's shooting.

The Franklin County Coroner's office identified the woman who was shot as 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young. The identity of the officer or officers who were 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 have struck an exterior wall of the Kroger store 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.

Chief Belford said two officers who were assisting someone having car problems in the Kroger parking lot were flagged down by a store employee. The employee alerted the officers to multiple people, including Young, who had allegedly stolen items from the store. The other suspects had 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. More than a dozen verbal commands were given for her to get out of the vehicle and to stop, he said.

Young put the vehicle in gear and accelerated, driving directly toward the officer in front of her vehicle, Belford said. That officer fired a single gunshot through the front windshield, which struck Young. The officers ran after Young's vehicle, which went about 50 feet and onto the sidewalk in front of the grocery 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 to be able to remove her and begin medical treatment immediately. An emergency room doctor who was 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, he said.

Ta'Kiya Young, 21, died at Mount Carmel St. Ann's Hospital in Westerville, where she was taken by paramedics after the shooting.

Young's family said she was was expecting a little girl due in November.

Young's grandmother, Nadine Young, told a Dispatch reporter on Friday she had not yet spoken to anyone from BCI or seen body camera footage of the incident.

"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 earlier this month, as a "goofy, fun-loving person," who enjoyed pranks.

The family has already spoken with local attorney Sean Walton, who has represented the families of other people killed by police in Franklin County, about representing them. 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.

Blendon Township officers do wear body cameras, according to information provided to the Dispatch in 2021 by Chief John Belford.

Information on whether the shooting was captured on body camera has not been made publicly available.

Belford told reporters Thursday night that he requested an outside investigation be done by BCI into the shooting.

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 where an officer shoots and injures or kills someone.

Blendon Township is located near Westerville in northeastern Franklin County. The township police department had 17 officers as of October 2022.

Body camera footage of the shooting will be released early next week. Belford said the police department, along with BCI, have to go through the video and make the necessary legal redactions before it can be released.

Township trustees did not respond to a call from The Dispatch seeking comment.

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.

The Columbus Civilian Police Review Board cannot review this case because the board only looks at matters involving Columbus police officers.

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."

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 circumstances, the death in this case is heartbreaking," Steel said. "The lodge extends its condolences to the family for its loss of this young woman."

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.

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