Rashida Tlaib: Reaction to Ma'Khia Bryant shooting 'maddening,' no justification for 'the killing of a child'

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Thursday expressed her anger over some reactions to the police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant in Ohio.

Bryant, 16, was shot by an officer in Columbus while she appeared to be attacking another girl with a knife on Tuesday. Tlaib said too many people are justifying the shooting by trying to "strip away the fact that a child was killed."

"Ma'Khia's TikTok videos show her childhood and joy," the Michigan Democrat wrote on Twitter. "Her smile at the end of the videos just breaks me a little more. It's been maddening to see so many people strip away the fact that a child was killed."

"We cannot be a society that justifies the killing of a child," Tlaib continued.

Police were called to the scene around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday on a report of someone attempting to stab others at a home.

As soon as police pulled up, Bryant could be seen tackling another female to the ground with what appeared to be a knife in her hand. The girl can then be seen charging at another nearby female who was pinned between a car while raising the apparent knife in the air, at which point the officer fired four shots, fatally wounding the girl.

According to bodycam footage, a man immediately yells at the officer, "You didn’t have to shoot her! She’s just a kid, man!"

The officer responds, "She had a knife. She just went at her!"

Democrats -- even up to the White House -- were outraged by the police shooting on the day of Derek Chauvin... (Read more)

Tweets mentioned:

https://twitter.com/AyannaPressley/status/1384873377312219137

https://twitter.com/SenSherrodBrown/status/1384843570285355009

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