Ohio police released video camera footage after an officer shot a 20-year-old black man to death while trying to serve an arrest warrant.
The video shows a Columbus police officer opening a door to an apartment and shooting the man identified as Donovan Lewis seconds after they meet, as he sits on the bed and raises his hands.
Chief Elaine Bryant said at a press conference that Officer Ricky Anderson fired his gun when Lewis raised a hand with something in it, Columbus’s WCMH reported.
Ms. Bryant said a device that appeared to be a “vaporized pen” was later “found on the bed right next to him.” Police said no weapons were found.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has opened an investigation into the shooting, police said.
The officer, a 30-year veteran of the force assigned to the dog department, was put on leave.
The footage, which was shot shortly after officers spotted Mr. Lewis on Tuesday morning, was released by police during a press conference.
Ms. Bryant told the conference, “Donovan Lewis lost his life. As a parent, you know, I sympathize and cry with his mother.
“As a community, I am saddened with our community, but we will allow this investigation to take place.”
A moment before the officer fired the killing shot. Pic: From the Columbus Division of Police video
Pic: From the Columbus Division of Police video
Officers were attempting to serve a felony warrant in an apartment just before 2:30 am when the deadly shooting took place, the Columbus Division of Police said in a press release.
Before the officer fires the killing shot, the footage shows moments before the incident, with officers knocking on the apartment’s front door before a man finally answers and is taken into custody.
Another man met inside the apartment entrance was also arrested, WCMH reported.
Police said officers provided help for Lewis until Columbus Fire doctors arrived at the scene and transported him to the hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 3:19 am, police said.
Lewis’s death comes less than two years after a Columbus police officer lost his job a few days after shooting the death of a black man who was found unarmed.
In May of last year, the city of Columbus reached a $ 10 million deal with Andre Hill’s family for the deadly shooting.
