Ohio officer faces murder charge in shooting of pregnant Black woman through windshield

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  An Ohio police officer was indicted Tuesday on murder and other charges in the shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black mother who was killed after being accused of shoplifting last August.

Young was suspected of stealing bottles of alcohol when Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb and a fellow officer approached her car. The other officer ordered her out. Instead, she rolled forward toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet through her windshield into her chest. The daughter she was expecting three months later also died.

A Franklin County grand jury indicted Grubb on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. A warrant for his arrest was issued as part of the indictment.

Brian Steel, president of the union representing Blendon Township police, called the indictment deeply disappointing. “Like all law enforcement officers, Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar for those who protect our communities,” he said in a statement.

Young’s grandmother, Nadine Young, said the officer never should have pulled his gun. “He took a lot from us,” she said on Tuesday. The last year has been difficult for the family, including her granddaughter’s two young sons, she said. “It’s been agony.”

Young’s family had called for the officer to be charged, calling his actions a “gross misuse of power and authority,” especially given that Young had been accused of a relatively minor crime.

In the video of the Aug. 24, 2023, shooting, an officer at the driver’s side window tells Young she’s been accused of shoplifting and orders her out of the car. Young protests, both officers curse at her and yell at her to get out, and Young can be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”

Seconds later, she turns the steering wheel to the right, the car rolls slowly forward, and Grubb fires his gun. Moments later, after the car comes to a stop against a building, the officers break the driver’s side window. Police said they tried to save her life.

The encounter between Young and the police officers was among a series of fatal shootings of Black adults and children by Ohio officers.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford said the department has started a disciplinary review now that Grubb has been indicted. A full-time officer with the township since 2019, Grubb has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting. Records show he has not been a licensed officer anywhere else in Ohio.