OH - Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, fatally shot multiple times by Columbus police officer, 20 April 2021

[katydid23]

Found this video with new info.

"Since November, there have been seven [911] calls to the home on Legion Lane." Foster mom had called 911 complaining about a 10-yr-old removing ornaments from xmas tree & yelling. Also called to report her foster children running away. MB's 15 yr old sister Jania called a month ago asking to get out of that foster home. Police told her they couldn't help with that and she said if they didn't get her out of that house she was going to kill someone.

Something was NOT right in that foster home.

Some screenshots with quotes from the video.

Are we sure that is the foster mother's fault? Plenty of foster kids enter foster care with issues brought from past traumas.

Hearing that a few of her foster kids ran away or begged to be moved out does not necessarily mean she was a bad foster mom. IMO

One of my closest friends was a Foster mom for 30 years. She lived across the street and I was in her home hundreds and hundreds of times, often unannounced. She was loving and nurturing and had a great sense of humour. MOST of her kids grew to love her and every Christmas she received calls, letters and visits from former kids of hers.

But she had a dozen or more 'runaways' and several kids who begged to get out of her home. I think because she had expectations and made some requests of them---manners, politeness, personal responsibility in the home. Some kids really really hated her requests and rebelled aggressively.

I'd like to see how any of us would do trying to love and care for a home full of teens that were taken from the families...it is not an easy task.

Many of my friends former foster kids are now happy and successful. Sadly, some are less so, and some are homeless or in jail. That makes her feel like a failure and I always tell her it is not her fault. She did her best to offer them all a safe, stable home life, and the rest is up to them.

 

[scriabina]

Do, did, the kids in that house have online school?

I read in a previous article that MB (and likely the others) were doing hybrid learning (online and in-person).

 

[kittythehare]

And while we don’t know the specific needs of this particular child, we know that in 2018, in Franklin County, where Columbus is the seat, nearly 14,000 reports of children in crisis were received. Of those, some 6,000 involved reported physical abuse, more than 2,700 involved neglect, 1,349 involved reported sexual abuse and 1,500 involved multiple offenses. The numbers were rising, according to social workers, as a result of the epidemic of opioid addiction among parents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-bryant-tragedy-foster-care-may-provide-clue/

 

[scriabina]

according to this article, the girl in pink made a call for help.
Moore said the young girl in pink told her: '"Mom, get home. Where are you? They're going crazy." She said they shot Ma'Kiah and I said, "Huh?" It was just crazy.'
Foster mom says Ma'Khia Bryant brawled with two girls before shooting

Sounds to me like they're saying pink girl called foster mom and told her MB was shot. Still not sure who called 911.

 

[BoyThatsWeird]

Training, confidence, decisiveness were all on point by this officer while under a very high pressure situation. Man...imagine if the cop missed and hit the woman in the pink shirt.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

according to this article, the girl in pink made a call for help:

She received a frantic phone call from one of the former foster children who is seen in the fateful police bodycam video wearing pink as Ma'Khia lunged at her with a knife before being gunned down by Reardon.

Moore said the young girl in pink told her: '"Mom, get home. Where are you? They're going crazy." She said they shot Ma'Kiah and I said, "Huh?" It was just crazy.'
Foster mom says Ma'Khia Bryant brawled with two girls before shooting

I think the girl in pink may have made the second 911 call. If you watch this video that has both 911 calls the second caller tells the 911 operator "never mind the police are already out here" when the officer pulls up.

In the officers body cam video you see the girl in pink walk towards the officer and say something to him. JMO

 

[scriabina]

Are we sure that is the foster mother's fault? Plenty of foster kids enter foster care with issues brought from past traumas....Hearing that a few of her foster kids ran away or begged to be moved out does not necessarily mean she was a bad foster mom. IMO

RSBM.

Yes, I never meant to imply it was all the foster mom's fault. I just think that living environment was unhealthy for a variety of reasons, the specifics of which we do not know. But judging from the # of 911 calls the foster mom made, we do know that she was having trouble dealing with things to the point where she requested a 10-yr-old foster boy be removed from her house. When you're averaging over one 911 call per month from one household, things aren't going very well. I would like to hear more from the foster mom and the former foster children beyond just "MB was angry that we suggested we clean up the house."

 

[katydid23]

A 10 year old was taking ornaments off a tree and she called it in?
There were 3 kids at the time of Ma'khia's death, allegedly.
Well done finding that!
I sincerely hope the police are investigating this fully too and not just the shooting!
I imagine they are, they must be.
?

I am sure there was much more to it than a 10 yr old 'taking ornaments off the tree.'

As I said, my long time neighbor and close friend was a foster mom. We walked our dogs together nearly every day. She told me a lot about what happened in her full house.

She had a close working relationship with our local PD because she had some pretty unruly teens sometimes. And being home alone much ofd the time, with 6 to 10 kids, meant she sometimes needed 'back up.' She needed the 'new' kids to know that she would call in the authorities if they crossed certain lines.

Kitty, here is what bothers me about this line of questioning...Ma_Khia has only been in that house for 2 months. She was 15 and spent the prior 15 years with her family. So why would we look at the woman who cared for her for the past 2 months and assume she was the source of this anger and rage?

MaKhia's teacher said she was doing an excellent job with her school work and receiving high grades and that should count for something. Usually if a child is in a toxic environment their school work suffers, imo.

 

[SBops]

I am sure there was much more to it than a 10 yr old 'taking ornaments off the tree.'

As I said, my long time neighbor and close friend was a foster mom. We walked our dogs together nearly every day. She told me a lot about what happened in her full house.

She had a close working relationship with our local PD because she had some pretty unruly teens sometimes. And being home alone much ofd the time, with 6 to 10 kids, meant she sometimes needed 'back up.' She needed the 'new' kids to know that she would call in the authorities if they crossed certain lines.

Kitty, here is what bothers me about this line of questioning...Ma_Khia has only been in that house for 2 months. She was 15 and spent the prior 15 years with her family. So why would we look at the woman who cared for her for the past 2 months and assume she was the source of this anger and rage?

MaKhia's teacher said she was doing an excellent job with her school work and receiving high grades and that should count for something. Usually if a child is in a toxic environment their school work suffers, imo.

Did your friend work outside the home? She seems very dedicated and I am sure most are, but we have seen from cases here, that they are not all perfect and some are definitely in it for the wrong reasons. I am not saying that that was the case here, though.

 

[katydid23]

RSBM.

Yes, I never meant to imply it was all the foster mom's fault. I just think that living environment was unhealthy for a variety of reasons, the specifics of which we do not know. But judging from the # of 911 calls the foster mom made, we do know that she was having trouble dealing with things to the point where she requested a 10-yr-old foster boy be removed from her house. When you're averaging over one 911 call per month from one household, things aren't going very well. I would like to hear more from the foster mom and the former foster children beyond just "MB was angry that we suggested we clean up the house."

A 10 yr old can her very disruptive and maybe she thought it was better and safer for her other kids to have him moved to another home? I don't think that should automatically mean she did something wrong.

My friend called the police on the average of once every 2 months or so, IIRC. She had one kid who refused to go to school and would pretend to go, but then hide until school was out. She was the one that was going to be charged with truancy if he continued. She called the police on him a few times.

Another child was stealing from her and the other kids and at school. She called the police on her and did it to scare her and show her that there were bad consequences if she continued.

I don't think we can compare what a foster parent has to do in her home to what the average parent might do as punishment. Keep in mind, the teen coming g to live with you is a stranger. They do not know you, they do not trust you and they have been through a lot of trauma already. It is very hard to slowly build up their trust and affection.

When I caught my teen skipping school and signing my name to a note, I didn't have to resort to any major back up because she was my daughter since birth---so being disappointed in her was the main 'punishment.' That and grounding her from the school dance.

So I hate it when we jump to conclusions that this foster mom was somehow to blame for the aggressive attack that the victim displayed. She cared for her 2 months out of 15 years. I think thei anger and rage has much deeper roots than that. JMO

 

[Ninja Bunny]

We can agree that shooting her was reasonable action, but multiple times that ended in her death? This is the question, not whether he shot her. He was apparently a trained military marksman, so wouldn't he have been able to disable her or stop her from stabbing the female in pink without killing her? There is also the view from the UK, that their officers disarm knife wielding teens without killing them. No doubt he saved the pink clothed female from serious injury or even death, but considering multiple variables including his prior experience, could MB's death be avoided?

If she had just been standing there with the knife and she wasn’t about to stab someone, perhaps.

However, the girl in pink was in imminent danger, she was not even a half second away from being stabbed to death. The cop had NO time to get to Bryant to disable her, knives/stabbings happen much faster than people think, the death zone for a knife is 20 feet because that’s the distance someone can cover and stab you before you have a chance to react. The cop had to make sure the attacker, who was running on full adrenaline, would be stopped.

I think the cop did the right thing. It’s unfortunate someone died, but it is what it is. It’s not the cop’s fault if Bryant had a rough upbringing, he could only handle what was in front of him and that was an adult-sized female who had charged and pinned another smaller female holding a puppy against a car and was about to (probably fatally) stab her.

 

[katydid23]

Did your friend work outside the home? She seems very dedicated and I am sure most are, but we have seen from cases here, that they are not all perfect and some are definitely in it for the wrong reasons. I am not saying that that was the case here, though.

No, her husband worked full time and she was home. They raised 3 bio kids first, then adopted a special needs child and began fostering at the request of CPS.

I know that not all Foster Homes are even close to perfect. Some are horrific. But I hate to jump to conclusions that this home was horrid, just from what little we know.

As I said, foster kids often run away, even from good foster homes. I hate to assume that the FM is rotten just because some of her kids ran off. JMO

 

[SBops]

No, her husband worked full time and she was home. They raised 3 bio kids first, then adopted a special needs child and began fostering at the request of CPS.

I know that not all Foster Homes are even close to perfect. Some are horrific. But I hate to jump to conclusions that this home was horrid, just from what little we know.

As I said, foster kids often run away, even from good foster homes. I hate to assume that the FM is rotten just because some of her kids ran off. JMO

I would just suggest (not really a criticism) that if you are going to take into your home young people who may be disturbed from a less than perfect home life, it would be better if you were there, full time.

 

[scriabina]

Kitty, here is what bothers me about this line of questioning...Ma_Khia has only been in that house for 2 months. She was 15 and spent the prior 15 years with her family. So why would we look at the woman who cared for her for the past 2 months and assume she was the source of this anger and rage?

MaKhia's teacher said she was doing an excellent job with her school work and receiving high grades and that should count for something. Usually if a child is in a toxic environment their school work suffers, imo.

Ma'Khia is 16, not 15, and according to news report videos cited above, she had been living there for 5 months and not 2 months.

If we assume everyone is being truthful and Ma'Khia was a peacemaking child -- and her teachers did say nice things about her to indicate she was a good student -- then her sudden change of behavior could certainly be due to the change in her living arrangements &/or environment, right? Within just 5 months of moving into that house, she went from being a peacemaking honor student to a knife-wielding enraged potential killer. She was triggered inside that house by former foster children from that house. Making sense of what exactly instigated her violent behavior could help prevent more of the same from happening in the future. Seeking to understand MB's foster home environment is a valid concern. To be clear, this is not to imply that all or even most foster parents (like your friend you've mentioned) are bad people in any way, shape or form.

 

[scriabina]

A 10 yr old can her very disruptive and maybe she thought it was better and safer for her other kids to have him moved to another home? I don't think that should automatically mean she did something wrong...So I hate it when we jump to conclusions that this foster mom was somehow to blame for the aggressive attack that the victim displayed. She cared for her 2 months out of 15 years. I think thei anger and rage has much deeper roots than that. JMO

I understand very clearly your opinion on this issue and I respect where you are coming from. But I don't believe anyone on here, including me, has blamed the foster mom for the knife attack. I think people are just trying to understand the bigger picture beyond not wanting to make a bed.

 

[katydid23]

Yeah, calling 911 because a 10 yr old is removing xmas tree ornaments is excessive. And frankly pretty disturbing. Says she called a few hours later asking that the child be removed from the house and hospitalized! Either the child was doing things a lot worse than removing xmas tree ornaments, or this woman didn't know how to handle the child and was overwhelmed. Or both.

"Either the child was doing things a lot worse than removing xmas tree ornaments, or this woman didn't know how to handle the child and was overwhelmed. Or both."


I don't know that it can be so easily boiled down to only those 2 options.

I think it is pretty obvious that there was a bit more to it than the child removing the ornaments, or she wouldn't be demanding he be hospitalized. IMO

But that does not necessarily mean she didn't know how to handle it or was too overwhelmed to do so.

It may be that she recognised that he NEEDED hospitalisation and there was nothing she could do for him at that time without endangering him or the other children. JMO

 

[kittythehare]

Foster parents are not a homogeneous group.
They are all different.

 

[katydid23]

Ma'Khia is 16, not 15, and according to news report videos cited above, she had been living there for 5 months and not 2 months.

If we assume everyone is being truthful and Ma'Khia was a peacemaking child -- and her teachers did say nice things about her to indicate she was a good student -- then her sudden change of behavior could certainly be due to the change in her living arrangements &/or environment, right? Within just 5 months of moving into that house, she went from being a peacemaking honor student to a knife-wielding enraged potential killer. She was triggered inside that house by former foster children from that house. Making sense of what exactly instigated her violent behavior could help prevent more of the same from happening in the future. Seeking to understand MB's foster home environment is a valid concern. To be clear, this is not to imply that all or even most foster parents (like your friend you've mentioned) are bad people in any way, shape or form.

My question is why wasn't she living at home with her family? I think whatever happened to instigate rage may have happened over the previous 16 years, as opposed to the previous few months.

If she was a happy, peaceful honour student, why did CPS insist she move into Foster care?

I think there is more understanding to be had from her childhood than from her relationship with the former foster children. But maybe I am wrong. I just hate, as a general rule, to see Foster parents be quickly blamed in cases like this. JMO

 

[katydid23]

Foster parents are not a homogeneous group.
They are all different.

Of course. I just think it is sad to automatically make some of the accusations I have seen here, based upon little evidence. JMO

 

[SBops]

My question is why wasn't she living at home with her family? I think whatever happened to instigate rage may have happened over the previous 16 years, as opposed to the previous few months.

If she was a happy, peaceful honour student, why did CPS insist she move into Foster care?

I think there is more understanding to be had from her childhood than from her relationship with the former foster children. But maybe I am wrong. I just hate, as a general rule, to see Foster parents be quickly blamed in cases like this. JMO

I would like to know that too. But IMO that did not seem to be an optimal place for her. Foster mother not there, other adults visiting, a 42 year old man involved. It does not sound good to me.