Police in Columbus, Ohio, have released body camera video that shows a police officer serving a felony warrant fatally shooting an unarmed Black man in bed.
Donovan Lewis, 20, died Tuesday after being shot by Police Officer Ricky Anderson, a 30-year veteran with the Columbus Division of Police assigned to the K9 unit, according to a police statement.
There was no justification for the officer to shoot, Rex Elliott, an attorney for Lewis’ family, said at a news conference Thursday morning.
“Donovan was unarmed, and he was abiding by police commands to come out of his room when he was shot in cold blood by Officer Anderson,” Elliott said, flanked by Lewis’ parents, siblings, grandmother, aunt, and family friends. They were “just a few of the many people that have had their lives altered forever because of the events of early Tuesday morning.”
The shooting is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and Anderson is on leave, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said Tuesday at a news conference.
The case follows a spate of deadly, controversial police encounters with Black Americans that have sparked protests nationwide, including in Columbus, where a series of killings by law enforcement have happened since 2020. The US Department of Justice has agreed to review the city’s Division of Police.
The shooting of Lewis happened around 2 a.m. On Tuesday, at an apartment building where uniformed officers were serving a felony warrant for domestic violence and assault and improper firearm handling, Bryant said. A news release by police indicated the man who was shot, later identified as Lewis, was the person sought in the felony warrant.
“The officers knocked on the door for several minutes … acknowledging themselves as Columbus Police officers,” Bryant said.
Police body camera video shows them repeatedly knocking and calling out to occupants for more than eight minutes. They call for “Donovan” by name several times.
Eventually, Bryant said a man came to the door and was detained by police. He told officers he’d been asleep, and they took a knife from his pocket. A second man inside the apartment was detained about a minute later.
A screengrab from bodycam footage shows Columbus Police Officer Ricky Anderson and K9 moments before shooting and killing 20-year-old Donovan Lewis.
Officers asked if anyone else was inside the apartment, Bryant said but could not determine that. Columbus Police then called Anderson and a K9 to see if anyone else was inside.
“Once the K9 officer arrived on the scene, additional announcements were made for anyone else inside to come out, or the K9 was going to be released inside the apartment,” Bryant said.
In the body camera video, the K9 is seen barking outside a back bedroom door, then officers enter the apartment and warn they will send a dog in.
An officer opens the bedroom door, where a man is seen on a bed.
Bodycam video shows Anderson firing a single shot at a man, later identified as Lewis, moments after opening the bedroom door.
During the news conference, Bryant showed the body camera video frame-by-frame, asserting that the moment Anderson opened fire, it appeared Lewis was holding “something” in his hand.
Bryant says a vape pen was later found next to Lewis on the bed.
Once Lewis was handcuffed, video shows, officers began rendering aid. Lewis was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:19 a.m., according to the Columbus Police statement.