Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religion News
A Word on the Shooting of Ta’Kiya Young

A Word on the Shooting of Ta’Kiya Young

Last updated on: September 2, 2023 at 12:21 am by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

A Word on the Shooting of Ta’Kiya Young 2023-09-02T00:21:02-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

police tape and police car lights

image via Pixabay

I’ve just watched the footage of the horrific killing of 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young.

Young, who was pregnant with a baby girl, was shot in the chest by a police officer as she tried to flee arrest in her car at the Kroger on South Sunbury Road in Blendon Township, Ohio.

I’d been told that the officer was just defending himself, so I wanted to look for myself and see if that was believable.

I do caution my readers that this footage is incredibly disturbing. It’s shown from two different body cameras, first from the officer who shot her and then from the other officer.

The first officer, who was not identified by the police but whom Young’s family identified as Connor Grubb, doesn’t seem to be responding to a shoplifting case at all; he’s helping someone who accidentally locked their keys in the car at first. Then someone alerts another officer that Young, who has just gotten into her car, has shoplifted liquor with her. He starts ordering her out of the car, calmly, again and again, as she denies guilt through the window which is slightly rolled down.

Grubb leaves the person he was helping. He approaches the car and stands directly in front of it. I’m told police are trained never to stand in front of a car, which no sane person would do anyway in a situation like this, but the officer plants himself there. He aims the gun directly at the woman’s chest as she argues with the other officer, who is not holding his gun. Grubb then starts cursing at the woman, demanding “get out of the f*ckin’ car!”

Young yells “You’re gonna shoot me!” gesturing at Grubb.

“Then get out. Go!” says the first officer.

Young panics and starts driving; at this point the other officer’s hand and arm are a little way into the partially open window. Grubb doesn’t step out of the way; in fact, he leans forward and touches the hood of the car as if he could stop it with his hands. She does not accelerate directly at Grubb as some have claimed. She turns the wheel sharply and attempts to go to the right, out of the parking spot and away from the gun, driving at only about five miles an hour. She obviously was trying to drive around the officer. The bumper clips Grubb’s knee at about the same moment or a moment after Grubb shoots her through the windshield, right in the chest. Someone, I believe the Kroger employee, shrieks. The car continues to drive in a right turn at about five miles per hour, toward the grocery store– further proof that she was desperately trying NOT to hit the officer while trying to flee. If she’d been going forward, she would have plowed into him straight on even after she was shot.

Grubb puts his hand over his bodycam and yells “shots fired!” as he chases the car on foot.

The first officer chases the car and punches the window, apparently not understanding that Young is dead. He bangs on it, yelling “stop the goddamn car!”

Grubb leans over and tries the door, which is locked.

The car finally stops when it crashes into the Kroger’s brick wall. Grubb then smashes the window, shattering glass all over Young’s body.

That’s where the footage cuts off; the officers say that after this, they administered first aid, but it was too late.

There was absolutely no reason for any of this.

This was not only the cruelest possible thing Grubb could have done, it’s the stupidest thing. It’s the thing that put the most people in danger. If he hadn’t been there, the worst possible scenario is that Young would have fled, they’d have run her plates, and arrested her at home.

Nobody was in danger of harm until Grubb got there. He chose to stand in front of the car. He waved a gun at a panicking woman, making her panic further. When she started to drive, he didn’t step out of the way which he could easily have done. He might have tried to shoot the tire so that the car couldn’t get anywhere, but instead he shot Young directly in the chest– while the other officer had his hand and arm in the car inches away, while there was a Kroger employee standing dangerously close. Not only was killing Young and her unborn baby completely unnecessary, he came close to shooting the other officer as well, and the out of control car could have hit somebody else.

All this for, allegedly, a few bottles of liquor.

A few bottles of liquor and two orphans.

A few bottles of liquor and one more trauma for Ohio’s Black community.

A few bottles of liquor and the reminder that we are not a free country; we’re constantly at the mercy of our brutal police. And it’s not as though the Columbus area is a stranger to such brutality.

There are calls for more police training, but I don’t know how training is going to help. These officers were obviously trained. One chose to follow his script, and the other disregarded training and shot a pregnant woman.

We can’t reform that.

My heart goes out to the family of Ta’Kiya Young. I can’t imagine their agony right now.

We live in a terrible country.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Religion News

America

Blendon Township

Connor Grubb

cop-on-black violence

police brutality

Ta'Kiya Young

Previous Post

August 30, 2023

Seeing Where You Go

Next Post

September 4, 2023 Thinking as God Does, Thinking as Humans Do

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I'm still considering it myself. I don't know what the answer is. I respect where ..."

Mary

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"Thank you for bringing so much goodness into the lives of so many children.Ran across ..."

alwayspuzzled

The Passion of the Red Oak

"This current administration has had me reflecting on the Nuremberg trials and the like, for ..."

axelbeingcivil

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian tradition is especially associated with speaking in tongues?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methodism Anglicanism Pentecostalism Presbyterianism