In another tragic incident of police negligence and brutality, a 20-year-old Black Ohio man was declared dead after being shot by Columbus police Tuesday. Like too many others before him, the man was unarmed when he was shot. According to NBC News affiliate WCMH, body camera footage publicly revealed Tuesday, hours after the shooting, depicts a Columbus police officer shooting the victim within seconds of opening the door to the bedroom he was in.
Court records show officers were serving a warrant for improperly handling a firearm, assault, and domestic violence toward the man, identified as Donovan Lewis. Lewis was in his bed, lying next to what may have been a vape pen when Officer Ricky Anderson shot him.
Officials announced that Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the force, was placed on leave pending an investigation of the shooting.
“A mother has lost her son today in the city of Columbus,” Mayor Andrew Ginther said in a media briefing, where the incident's footage was shared publicly.
“When our officers have done the right thing, we’re going to stand with them,” Ginther said. “And when they do the wrong thing, we’re going to hold them accountable. We can’t do either of those things right now until this investigation is complete.”
The footage also showed officers putting Lewis in handcuffs after the shooting while he was still on the bed and then carrying him out of the apartment.
While cuffing him, an officer can be seen picking up Lewis' right arm and folding it back."Put your hands behind your back, now,” an officer can be heard telling the wounded Lewis while cuffing him.
It isn't clear from the video where he was shot, but police can be seen pulling his pants off outside and attempting to treat the left side of his chest.
After trying to treat Lewis’ gunshot wound at the scene, medics took him to Grant Medical Center in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead, WCMH reported.
“Donovan Lewis lost his life,” said Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant. “As a parent, I sympathize and grieve with his mother. As a community, I grieve with our community, but we’re going to allow this investigation to take place.”
The investigation into the shooting will be led by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). Again, a vape pen was found on Lewis' bed, but no gun was.
“Every day, officers are put in compromising potentially life-threatening situations in which we are required to make split-second decisions,” Bryant said. “As the chief, it is my job to hold my officers accountable, but it’s also my job to offer them support.”
According to The Columbus Dispatch, while revealing the footage associated with Lewis's death, police also released information on two other recent police shootings. All three police shootings occurred in the past eight days, and Tuesday's was the first to end in a fatality.
Tuesday's shooting also comes two years after Columbus police officers shot another unarmed Black man, Andre Hill. According to NBC News , an officer identified as Adam Coy shot Hill after mistaking his phone for a possible gun while responding to a nonemergency call. Coy was fired shortly after and in May 2021, the City of Columbus reached a $10 million settlement with Hill's family over the fatal shooting.
Following the press conference, the Columbus NAACP released a statement urging the BCI to conduct a "thorough, comprehensive and immediate investigation" into all three shootings discussed.
"The Columbus NAACP is concerned regarding the recent cases involving Columbus Police Officers. In the early morning hours at an apartment complex in the 3200 block of Sullivant Avenue, another shooting occurred. This shooting left the unknown male suspect dead at the scene. As always, the Columbus NAACP will wait for the particulars of the shooting. We demand that BCI conduct a thorough, comprehensive and immediate investigation. These incidents leave behind grieving family members, unanswered questions from the community and a further divide between the citizens and the police department."