Columbus Police Under Fire For Killing A Man Holding A Vape Pen In Bed

Police in Columbus, Ohio, released body camera video Tuesday after an officer fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man within seconds of encountering him while they were trying to serve an arrest warrant earlier in the day.

In the video, which was released at a news conference, an officer can be seen firing at the man, whom police identified as Donovan Lewis, shortly after they found him in an apartment Tuesday morning. Lewis appears to sit up in bed and raise a hand in the moments before he is shot.

Chief Elaine Bryant said at the news conference that Officer Ricky Anderson fired his gun when Lewis appeared to raise a hand with something in it, NBC affiliate WCMH of Columbus reported. Bryant said a device appearing to be a "vape pen" was later "found on the bed right next to him." No weapon was found, police said.

Anderson, a 30-year veteran of the force who was assigned to the canine unit, was placed on paid leave, which is protocol for officers who shoot their weapons on duty, police said.

Officers had been trying to serve a felony warrant at an apartment just before 2:30 a.m., Columbus police said in a news release Tuesday.

The body camera video shows the moments leading up to the incident after officers arrived at the apartment. In the video, officers knock on the apartment's front door before a man eventually answers and is taken into custody. Another man who was encountered in the entrance of the apartment was also detained, WCMH reported.

Officers can later be seen inside the apartment with a police dog, which appears to start barking at a back bedroom door. Officers advance on the door, and Anderson, gripping the dog’s collar in one hand, pushes it open with the other before he fires his weapon shortly after.

Police said officers provided aid to Lewis until Columbus fire medics arrived and took him to a hospital.