Police in Columbus, Ohio, released body camera images Tuesday after an officer fatally shot a 20-year-old man within seconds of meeting him while trying to issue a warrant for his arrest earlier that day.
The video, released during a press conference, shows a cop shooting at the man, who police identified as Donovan Lewis, shortly after finding him in an apartment on Tuesday morning. Lewis appears to be sitting up in bed and raising a hand in the moments before being shot.
Chief Elaine Bryant said during the press conference that Officer Ricky Anderson fired his gun when Lewis appeared to raise a hand with something in it. WCMH reported from Columbus. Bryant said a device resembling a “vape pen” was later “found on the bed next to him.”
Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the Corps assigned to the canine unit, was placed on leave pending an investigation into the deadly shooting, police said. the news channel. NBC News has asked Anderson and the police union for comment.
“Donovan Lewis lost his life. As a parent, you know, I sympathize and mourn his mother,” Bryant said. “As a community, I grieve with our community, but we are going to make this investigation happen,” she said.
Officers were attempting to issue a warrant in an apartment just before 2:30 a.m. as the deadly shooting unfolded, the Columbus Division of Police said in a press release on Tuesday.
The body camera images show the moments prior to the incident after officers arrived at the apartment. The video shows officers knocking on the apartment’s front door before a man finally answers and is taken into custody. Another man found at the apartment entrance was also detained, WCMH reported.
Officers can later be seen in the apartment with a police dog, which appears to be barking at a back door of the bedroom. Officers walk to the door and Anderson, grabbing the dog’s collar in one hand, pushes it open with the other before firing his weapon shortly after.
Police said officers provided assistance to Lewis until Columbus Fire medics arrived and transported him to a hospital.
Lewis was pronounced dead in hospital at 3:19 a.m., police said, within an hour of the incident.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has opened an investigation into the police shooting, police said. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Lewis’s death comes less than two years after a Columbus police officer lost his job, days after shooting a black man who turned out to be unarmed.
In May last year, the city of Columbus reached a $10 million settlement with Andre Hill’s family over the deadly shooting.