By Joseph De Avila

An Ohio jury has acquitted a police officer who in August 2023 shot and killed Ta'Kiya Young, a 21-year-old pregnant Black woman suspected of shoplifting.

Connor Grubb was found not guilty of murder and other charges, with a jury finding his actions that led to the death of Young were justifiable. Young was seven months pregnant at the time of her death.

Grubb encountered Young in a parking lot after she allegedly stole liquor from a Kroger grocery store in Blendon Township outside of Columbus. Grubb shot Young after she drove her vehicle in his direction, according to body camera footage of the incident.

Mark Collins, a lawyer for Grubb, said the jury in the case was presented with a difficult and emotional task. "We believe they followed the law," Collins said.

Nadine Young, Young's grandmother, cried out and burst into tears when the verdict was read. "It's not right! This is not right!" she said.

"This is a tragedy that should never have happened," said Sean Walton, a lawyer for the Young family.

Daniel Brandt, one of the special prosecutors on the case, said his team respected the jury's decision.

On the day of the shooting, Grubb, a white officer with the Blendon Township Police Department, and another officer stopped Young while she was in her car in the parking lot, according to the body camera footage. They told her she was accused of shoplifting.

Grubb and the other officer ordered Young to get out of the vehicle, and she refused, according to the footage. Grubb, standing in front of Young's car, pulled out his gun and aimed it at her. Young accelerated her car, and Grubb shot her once.

Young had a gun aimed at her and had a split-second decision to make, said Walton, the lawyer for the Young family. Grubb, who had years of training, also had to make a quick decision, he says.

"You have officers who have an unreasonable and irrational fear -- with no weapons involved or folks doing very minimal behavior -- that they escalate it into murder," Walton said.

Collins, the attorney for Grubb, said this wasn't a case motivated by racial animus.

"For the rest of his life he has to deal with this," Collins said. "He took a life on duty -- and realized another's life after the fact -- and to walk around with that is a difficult situation."

Write to Joseph De Avila at joseph.deavila@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2025 13:52 ET (18:52 GMT)

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