Officer charged with murder in death of pregnant Black woman who was accused of shoplifting

A Franklin County, Ohio, grand jury handed down a 10-count indictment Tuesday for murder, assault and involuntary manslaughter against officer Connor Grubb for the shooting of Ta’Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black mother last August.

“The road to this point has been arduous and long,” Young family attorney Sean Walton said in a statement to The Hill.

“Yet, we can assert that although delayed, the proper course was taken in securing an indictment against Officer Grubb. The actions that led to the death of Ta’Kiya — the unnecessary aggression, the chilling commands that amounted to ‘comply or die’ — were there for us all to witness in dreadful clarity.”

Grubb shot Young on Aug. 24, 2023, in the parking lot of a Kroger store. Young was suspected of stealing bottles of alcohol when Grubb, a Blendon Township police officer, and a fellow officer approached her car, according to the indictment.

In the body camera footage, an officer is heard cursing at Young, saying “get out of the f‑‑‑ing car,” and Young is heard protesting and asking “are you going to shoot me?”

Young refused to get out and rolled the car forward, and Grubb fired a single bullet through her windshield, according to the body camera footage. Both Young and her daughter, who she was expecting in three months, died.

Walton argued that the body camera footage shows that Grubb and the other officer did not allow for paramedics to approach the car for at least 10 minutes after she was shot.

In the indictment, Grubb faces four charges for murder: two related to the death of Young and two tied to the death of Young’s unborn daughter. He also faces four charges of felonious assault in the second degree and two charges of involuntary manslaughter. Under Ohio law, a person can be charged with multiple counts tied to different theories on how a death occurred.

Blendon Township Police Chief John Belford told The Hill that the department has now started a disciplinary review against Grubb.

“No one at Blendon Township has passed any judgment on whether Officer Grubb acted within the law,” the police chief said in a statement. “However, since people who’ve been indicted may not legally possess a firearm, the indictment against him leaves us with no choice but to begin the disciplinary process.”

Grubb’s union, the Fraternal Order of Police Local 9, denounced the indictment, saying it was “deeply disappointed” with the decision. Local 9 President Brian Steel also accused prosecutors of being biased and “politically driven.”

“Prosecutors are free to present whichever evidence they deem fit,” Steel wrote to The Hill. “This discretion can sometimes be misused, leading to politically motivated indictments.”

“Officer Grubb had to make a split-second decision, a reality all too familiar for those who serve to protect our communities,” he added.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, video surveillance from the parking lot shows Grubb’s feet were not on the ground when he fired the shot into the car. Surveillance from inside the store does show Young placing bottles of alcohol in a bag.

When the footage was released last September, Walton said the footage did not show Young attempting to run over Grubb.

“What is clear from the video is that she did not try and run him over, she turned the wheel as far away from him as possible before the vehicle began to slowly move forward and to the right, and Grubb had every opportunity to follow departmental policy and take evasive action instead of discharging his firearm into Ta’Kiya’s chest,” he wrote.

Young’s family members called for the officer to be charged shortly after the shooting last year. They called Grubb’s actions a “gross misuse of power and authority,” especially since Young had been accused of shoplifting and not a violent crime.

“What is clear is that petty theft does not justify murder and comply or die is not the rule of law in this country,” Walton told The Hill. “The fact that an unarmed woman was shot unjustifiably, then dragged from her car and handcuffed after being shot should shake the conscience of everyone who watches the newly released video footage.”

Walton also hit back at Steel’s statement after Grubb’s indictment on Tuesday.

“The statement … underscores a cowardly, yet consistent, readiness to excuse the inexcusable,” Walton wrote to The Hill.

“He upholds systems of oppression while holding back the good officers who also seek systemic change for our communities,” he added. “As we stand with Ta’Kiya’s family, we cannot overstate the bitter irony that Officer Connor Grubb is now the fourth member of Capital City Lodge #9 to be currently awaiting trial for murder.”

Since 2019, four members of Steel’s union have faced charges related to on-duty shootings, according to the Dispatch.