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Ohio Police Fatally Shoot Pregnant Woman

Ta'Kiya Young had just been accused of shoplifting from a supermarket
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 29, 2023 3:00 AM CDT
Ohio Police Fatally Shoot Pregnant Woman
Family and friends release balloons at a private vigil Friday, Aug. 25, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio, held for 21-year-old Ta'Kiya Young, who was shot and killed a day earlier by Blendon Township police outside an Ohio supermarket.   (Courtney Hergesheimer/The Columbus Dispatch via AP)

Police in a Columbus suburb fatally shot a pregnant woman in an Ohio supermarket parking lot after she accelerated her car toward an officer, police officials said. Ta'Kiya Young, 21, of Columbus, died Thursday evening in Blendon, the AP reports. A supermarket employee told officers who were at the store on an unrelated matter that multiple people were fleeing from the store with stolen items, Blendon Police Chief John Belford said. That included Young, who had allegedly taken multiple bottles of alcohol. One officer went to the driver's side of Young's car and told her to stop, Belford said, while the other officer moved in front of the vehicle.

Young then put the car in gear and accelerated forward, Belford said, and the officer directly in the vehicle's path fired one shot through the front windshield. Young's car then traveled about 50 feet before coming to a stop on the sidewalk outside the store. She was pronounced dead a short time later. Young was due to give birth in November, her family told the Columbus Dispatch. Her unborn daughter did not survive the shooting. Young was the mother of two sons, ages 6 and 3. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the fatal shooting, Belford said. Young's family told the Columbus Dispatch they have many questions about the shooting, mainly why she was deemed a lethal threat.

(More Ohio stories.)

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