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Police in Columbus, Ohio, released body camera footage on Tuesday after an officer fatally shot a 20-year-old man within seconds of encountering him while attempting to serve an arrest warrant earlier that day.
In the video, which was released during a news conference, an officer can be seen firing at the man, who police identified as Donovan Lewis, shortly after locating him in an apartment Tuesday morning. Lewis can be seen appearing to sit up in bed and raise a hand in the moments before he is shot.
Chief Elaine Bryant said during the news conference that Officer Ricky Anderson fired his gun when Lewis appeared to raise a hand with something in it, NBC affiliate WCMH of Columbus reported. Bryant said a device appearing to be a “vape pen” was later “found on the bed right next to him.”
Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the force who was assigned to the canine unit, was placed on leave pending an investigation into the deadly shooting, according to the news station. NBC News has reached out to Anderson and the police union for comment.
“Donovan Lewis lost his life. As a parent, you know, I sympathize and I grieve with his mother,” Bryant said. “As a community, I grieve with our community but we’re gonna allow this investigation to take place,” she said.
Officers had been attempting to serve a felony warrant at an apartment just before 2:30 a.m. when the deadly shooting unfolded, the Columbus Division of Police said in a news release Tuesday.
The body camera footage shows the moments leading up to the incident after officers arrived at the apartment. In the video, officers can be seen knocking on the apartment’s front door before a man eventually answers and is taken into custody. Another man encountered inside the entrance of the apartment was also detained, WCMH reported.
Officers can later be seen inside the apartment with a police dog, which appears to start barking at a back bedroom door. Officers advance upon the door and Anderson, gripping the dog’s collar in one hand, pushes it open with the other before firing his weapon shortly after.
Police said officers provided aid to Lewis until Columbus Fire medics arrived on scene and transported him to a hospital.
Lewis was pronounced dead at the hospital at 3:19 a.m., police said, within an hour of the incident unfolding.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has opened an investigation into the police shooting, police said. The bureau did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
Lewis’ death comes less than two years after a Columbus police officer lost his job days after fatally shooting a Black man who was found to have been unarmed.
In May of last year, the City of Columbus reached a $10 million settlement with Andre Hill’s family over the deadly shooting.
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