Hundreds of angry protesters have swept through the Ohio city where pregnant woman Ta’Kiya Young was shot dead by a police officer last month.
Protesters gave speeches in Goodale Park, downtown Columbus, on Sunday before chanting “black Lives Matter” as they marched through the streets to demand justice for the 21-year-old mother of two.
Police approached Young on August 24 while sitting in her car in a Kroger parking lot because they believed she had shoplifted, though the family’s attorney denies she was involved in theft.
Shocking bodycam footage shows the moment a cop shoots through the windshield, killing Young and her unborn child, as her car slowly rolls toward him.
The horrific incident in Blendon Township, in northern Columbus, has caused an uproar in the local community and beyond.
Ta’Kiya Young, 21, was pregnant when she was fatally shot on Aug. 24 by a cop while sitting in her car in a Kroger parking lot in Blendon Township, northern Columbus, Ohio.
Hundreds of angry protesters marched Sunday night through Columbus, Ohio — the same city where the mother-of-two was murdered last month
Malissa Thomas St Clair, Young’s 7th grade high school teacher (pictured) paid tribute to her as a student with a “beautiful smile” and “bright brown eyes” that were “not given a chance to develop”
Hundreds of people gathered in Goodale Park at 6pm for a protest organized by the People’s Justice Project.
Among the speakers was Young’s high school teacher, Malissa Thomas St Clair, 48, who told DailyMail.com that they remained “really close” after she graduated.
She said Young’s family are “still in disbelief” and feel they can’t properly mourn her death until they know the name of the cop who killed her.
“Ta’Kiya Young’s family deserves to know who killed their daughter,” the Columbus-born teacher told DailyMail.com, adding that she leaves behind two sons, ages three and five, a sister, father, grandmother and great-grandmother.
“I think it’s unfair that the family doesn’t know who the killer is.”
St Clair warned that she was not supportive of the agent’s name being made public if it would harm his family, but stressed that Young’s relatives had a right to know his name.
Young was seven months pregnant when she died and was “thrilled” that her first daughter would be joining her family.
“She was due in early November,” St Clair said. “She had a baby in her belly.
“She had already named her daughter, she already has two sons and she was really looking forward to becoming a mother of a daughter, that was something very special for her.”
Young was a mother of two young children and she was pregnant when she died. Her unborn child was also killed in the shooting
St Clair said Young overcame “adversities” in her younger years that “could have toughened anyone else up” — but described her as “cheerful, engaging and hard-working.”
“She had a smile that lit up the room,” the teacher said. “She helped others who were being bullied, that was her biggest thing. She always stood up for the underdog.’
St Clair said that Young came to her when she became pregnant at age 16, but “made a promise” that she would still finish high school and go to college, which she did.
During the demonstration, St Clair also criticized people who claimed that Young “used her vehicle as a weapon” against the officer who shot her.
“That vehicle didn’t go over two miles an hour,” she said. “That man (the cop) wouldn’t have died from those miles per hour.
“She got out of the way because she knew she was going to die. She tried to save her daughter’s life.
‘Ta’Kiya Young was killed. Ta’Kiya Young’s baby was murdered.”
More speakers took to the stage, including event organizer Raman Obey, who denounced ‘police brutality’.
“We are here because people have lost their lives because of the escalation of the police, the militarization of the police and the general police brutality,” he said.
“And that added pressure of being pregnant—I can’t even imagine what she was thinking at the time…but it wasn’t until the second cop got in front of that car that it became a tragedy.
“That baby’s last words were, ‘Are you going to shoot me?’
Another organizer, Emily Cole, pointed out that the cop who shot Young has not yet been named or arrested.
“They (police officers) are allowed to hide their names and are not allowed to face the community,” she said.
“These families get no justice, no accountability, and can’t even sue because of qualified immunity.”
After the park protest, the number of protesters increased as they took to the streets chanting “black lives matter” and “no justice, no peace.”
Many carried banners bearing Young’s name along with others killed by police in America.
Young’s family has called for the arrest of the officer responsible for her death, their attorney Sean Walton said.
Sunday protest organizers Raman Obey (right) and Emily Cole (left) delivered impassioned speeches on the podium at Goodale Park on Sunday before protesters marched through the streets
Shocking bodycam footage shows the moment a cop shoots through the windshield, killing Young and her unborn child, as her car slowly rolls towards him
Walton said the bodycam video clearly shows the shooting was unjustified.
“The video confirmed nothing but their fear that Ta’Kiya was wrongly killed… and it was just heartbreaking for them to see Ta’Kiya take their life in such ridiculous circumstances,” Walton told the AP.
“Ta’Kiya’s family is heartbroken.”