Ta'Kiya Young's grandmother pushes for justice for pregnant mom shot by police
"She was a shining light. She loved her kids to pieces."
The fatal police shooting of Ta'Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was suspected of shoplifting, has again raised calls for improved policing in Black communities.
Young was seven months pregnant during the Aug. 24 incident outside the Kroger parking lot in Blendon Township, Ohio.
Body camera video shows Young refusing to leave the car despite orders from officers; one officer was on the driver's side while the other stood directly in front of the vehicle.
The video shows that as Young accelerated in an apparent attempt to drive away, the officer who stood in front of the vehicle fired the fatal shot.
The officer who shot Young is on paid administrative leave while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation examines the shooting, which is standard practice.
Nadine Young, the victim's grandmother, and family attorney Sean Walton Jr. spoke with ABC News Live Monday about the latest in the investigation.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Nadine, first of all, we want to just say we are so sorry for your loss. Our condolences to you and Ta’Kiya’s boys. Tell us about how they're doing and how you've been consoling them during this time.
NADINE YOUNG: They’re missing her. My son is heartbroken, which is her dad. The baby boy missed her the most. He saw her at the funeral. He was like, “She dead. She can’t talk to me,” and the older one is kind of dealing with it a little bit. But it's like, he understands it more, what's going on that she's not here. It’s rough.
ABC NEWS LIVE: I can imagine. Sean, where do things stand with the investigation at this point?
SEAN WALTON JR: At this point, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into this shooting, and so we're asking for an urgency from them. What we see here is murder, plain as day.
In other jurisdictions, other parts of this country, you see swift justice for families. You all saw in Philadelphia an officer just indicted for a shooting that was caught on video.
So despite the fact that there is an investigation taking place, this family is asking that the authorities move with urgency because a life was lost here and a murder clearly occurred.
YOUNG: Double.
WALTON: Two lives were lost.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Two lives, right. Is the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation keeping open lines of communication with you?
WALTON: Not to this point. They have not communicated as far as the status of the investigation or the timeline. That’s why it’s important that we call for urgency here because we've seen in the past that, you know, these things can drag on for months.
We've seen past cases like Casey Goodson Jr. with Jason Meade right here in Columbus. It took a year for an indictment, and so we, we’re not you know asking for a rush to judgment, but at the same time the video says it all and there should be urgency here in indicting this officer.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And Ms. Young, we heard Sean reference the video. Have you been able to watch all of the body cam footage?
YOUNG: I've seen bits and pieces and I've seen my granddaughter turn away from him, not at him. She was not trying to hit him and she asked him, “Are you going to shoot me?” was her last words. And he shot her, maliciously.
And that was the last thing I heard my baby say, period.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Sean, as the family lawyer, what does justice look like in this case?
WALTON: This officer should be terminated immediately. He violated departmental policy and just good policing standards across this country.
You don't place yourself in front of a vehicle that you feel like maybe a threat, and more than anything, it was not a threat. We saw Ta’Kiya turn away from the officer before that car began to move.
And so there was clearly not an intent by Ta’Kiya to harm this officer. And the officer in a newly released video footage, he can be heard saying, “She tried to run me over. She tried to run me over.”
There's no justification for what he did, and allowing this shooting to stand without any resolution just further emboldens officers to act recklessly when engaging with, you know, folks in the community, and that just can't happen.
ABC NEWS LIVE: For those who never had the opportunity to meet your granddaughter, what would you like people to know about her?
YOUNG: She was a shining light. She loved her kids to pieces. She would go out for them boys and she was excited to have a little girl, which she lost when she lost her life.
She had a seven-month baby girl in her stomach. And the baby girl had it -- it was going to be her mini-me. That was going to be her heart. She was so excited. She was getting little clothes and stuff ready for that baby. And they took her life and the baby's life at the same time.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Ms. Young, have you gotten an apology or heard anything from the police?
YOUNG: Nothing. Nothing. Not from the, not from the chief, not from people, nothing from Blendon Township. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.