Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant woman in Ohio, has died after being shot by police.
The fatal encounter happened after Young was accused of stealing alcohol from a Kroger grocery store in Blendon Township, Ohio, on Thursday evening.
According to Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford, a Kroger employee called police and reported Young, saying she fled the scene after stealing bottles.
Belford said in a video statement that Young was found in a Lexus sedan without plates in front of the store. She also parked in a space for disabled people, the chief added. Young allegedly refused to comply when officers demanded her to get out of the car at least a dozen times.
“The woman put the car in gear and accelerated forward,” Belford said in the statement, according to Atlanta Black Star. “The officer who was directly in the path of the oncoming car fired one shot through the front windshield.”
Officers ran after the car as it kept moving, the chief added.
“It then came to a stop on the sidewalk outside the store,” Belford said. “Because the driver’s door had been locked, officers immediately broke the driver’s window so they could attend to the woman and begin medical assistance.”
Young was pronounced dead at the hospital. Her unborn child also died. Young’s family told reporters that police are hesitating to release bodycam footage because they are building their own narrative.
“She stole something from the store,” Young’s grandmother, Nadine Young, told The Columbus Dispatch. “You didn’t have to shoot the woman; she would have eventually gotten out of the … car. You didn’t have to kill her and the baby.”
The family mourned the loss of their loved one during a candlelight vigil outside the Kroger store on Aug. 25.
“They didn’t have to kill two lives,” Nadine said. “Her and a new baby girl she was excited about.”
Young was expected to give birth to a baby girl, her third child, in November. The 21-year-old already was raising two boys, ages 6 and 3.
