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Columbus (AP) - A police officer in the US state of Ohio shot a 16-year-old black girl who, according to video recordings, was armed with a knife.
The girl had attacked other people, said the acting police chief of the city of Columbus, Michael Woods.
The four fatal shots came just minutes before the guilty verdict against white ex-cop Derek Chauvin in the case of the slain African American George Floyd.
"We know, based on these recordings, that the police officer took action to protect another young girl in our community," said the city's mayor, Andrew Ginther, at a press conference.
"But a family is mourning tonight," he said.
The young girl will never come home again.
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Ginther urged residents of the city to remain calm.
The mayor had initially spoken of a 15-year-old, later the girl, who was living with a foster family, was identified as 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant.
US President Joe Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in the White House on Wednesday: “The police killing of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant by the Columbus police is tragic.
She was a child. "
Psaki added that it was known that "police violence disproportionately affects blacks and Latinos".
The government is therefore committed to the fight against structural racism and prejudice.
In addition, the White House is promoting urgently needed police reforms, said Psaki.
Columbus police said the officers drove to the scene after receiving an emergency call that there was a threat from women armed with knives.
In order to explain the course of the crime, the police published recordings from the camera of the officer who was the first to arrive at the scene and who ultimately fired the shots.
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The recordings show a confusing and rapidly escalating situation.
Several people can be seen standing in a driveway between two cars.
The video then shows a scuffle, a man throws a young woman to the ground and tramples her.
Ma'Khia Bryant then attacks another young woman with a knife.
She pushes the woman dressed in pink against a car - then four shots can be heard, Bryant collapses.
At the press conference, the police showed a slowed-down recording of the incident, which played out in just about 30 seconds.
The case is now being investigated by the relevant agency, the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI), it said.
A woman who claimed to be an aunt of the victim told the Columbus Dispatch newspaper that her niece had got into an argument with someone.
Hazel Bryant said she had a knife but dropped it before she was hit by multiple police shots.
The newspaper reported on minor protests in the city with signs that read, among other things, “Black Lives Matter”.
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In the past year alone, 243 black people were shot dead by police in the United States, according to a Washington Post database.
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