Murder of Ta'Kiya Young 2023

On August 24th, 2023, Officer Connor Grubb of the Blendon Township Police Department shot and killed Ta'Kiya Young, a 21 year old pregnant mother of two small children outside of a Kroger in Westerville, Ohio. Ta'Kiya was suspected of shoplifting liquor from inside the Ohio Liquor store inside the Kroger. When she attempted to leave, a Kroger employee alerted two officers that were in the parking lot attending to an unrelated vehicle. The two officers approached Ta'Kiya's vehicle and ordered her (with no context) to exit the vehicle, banging on her window. As she attempted to leave, Officer Grubb moved in front of her vehicle and pulled his firearm, pointing it at her. You can hear her say from inside the vehicle "are you going to shoot me?!" before Grubb fired once into the vehicle, striking her and killing both her and her unborn fetus. On October 4th, 2023, the Ohio BCI determined that her death was ruled a homicide and is to be presented to a grand jury. The Blendon Township Police use-of-force policy provides that officers are to move away from an approaching vehicle and to not discharge their weapon.