US protesters rally in Ohio against police killing of Black teenager

US protesters have marched in the city of Columbus, Ohio, for a second straight day, to denounce the fatal police shooting of an African-American teenage girl.

The protesters chanted slogans demanding justice for 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, who was killed by the police during an altercation with someone on Tuesday.

The girl was shot on Tuesday around the same time a Minneapolis jury convicted a white former police officer of murdering George Floyd last year by kneeling on his neck.

The fatal shooting triggered immediate protests in Columbus, Ohio's state capital, just as the announcement of the guilty verdict in the Floyd case brought joy and relief to Minnesota.

The protests were held as outrage grows against racial injustice and police brutality in the United States.

Ohio State University students also staged a sit-in and marched through the city on Wednesday to protest the fatal police shooting of a Black teenage girl.

The white killer cop was identified as Nicholas Reardon, who was hired in December 2019. It appears from the body-camera video that he fired four shots at Bryant.

Interim Police Chief Michael Woods said Reardon "would be taken off the street" pending an investigation.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that President Joe Biden had been briefed on the "tragic" shooting.

North Carolina protests against fatal police shooting

US anti-racism protesters marched in Elizabeth City, North Carolina on Wednesday night following the fatal shooting of a Black man in his car by local sheriff's deputies.

The slain man was identified as Andrew Brown Jr., a resident of Elizabeth City, with authorities saying only that he was shot in his car when sheriff's deputies tried to serve him with a search warrant.

North Carolina state officials have opened an investigation into the fatal shooting of the 40-year-old father.

During the protests, Keith Rivers, President of The Pasquotank National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Naacp) said, "People are feeling tired. People are feeling frustrated, and people want this to stop. And the only way this is going to stop is to first have transparency because transparency brings about trust. And when you have trust, we can move forward in the march and the fight for justice."

Activist Quentin Jackson also said, "As a black man, let's throw the titles away, let's throw the goals away, but as a black African-American man, it is ridiculous. We do want answers and justice. And the sheriff should come out here. He should come out here and give the people answers.”

The police killing of Brown came the day after a jury found Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, guilty of murdering George Floyd last year by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes while he was handcuffed and under arrest.

Floyd’s killing by white police officers brought US racism back into focus and became an emblem of the Black Lives Matter movement. It has, however, not stopped trigger-happy cops from unleashing terror on hapless minorities, including African Americans and Asian Americans.

Fatal attacks on people of color in the US have witnessed a disconcerting surge in recent years, which activists have attributed to former president Donald Trump's racist rhetoric.

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