Police body-cam footage shows an officer opening a bedroom door in an apartment and immediately shooting an unarmed man in bed. Video / Columbus Police
A man fatally shot by police in Ohio's capital city appeared to be holding a vape pen, the city police chief said as an investigation gets under way into the shooting.
Donovan Lewis, 20, died at a hospital after the shooting early on Tuesday morning. Columbus police say officers wereat the scene to arrest Lewis on multiple warrants including domestic violence, assault and felony improper handling of a firearm.
Police body-cam footage shows an officer opening a bedroom door in an apartment and immediately shooting Lewis, who was in bed. Lewis appeared to be holding the vape pen before he was shot, said Columbus police chief Elaine Bryant. No weapon was found.
Bryant has not addressed whether police believed the device was a weapon, a determination that will come during the probe by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
"There was, like, a vape pen that was found on the bed right next to him," Bryant told reporters.
"Donovan Lewis lost his life. As a parent, you know, I sympathise and I grieve with his mother. As a community, I grieve with our community but we're gonna allow this investigation to take place."
Bryant said the city was committed to holding officers responsible if there was any wrongdoing but the state investigation needed to play out first.
Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther, who hired Bryant last year, said that "regardless of the circumstances, a mother has lost her son in the city of Columbus".
The US Justice Department agreed in 2021 to review Columbus police department practices after a series of fatal police shootings of black people and the city's response to 2020 racial injustice protests.
