COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A Franklin County grand jury has indicted the Blendon Township police officer who fatally shot a pregnant woman in a grocery store parking lot as she inched her car toward him.
Officer Connor Grubb is facing murder charges in the deaths of Ta’Kiya Young, 21, and her unborn daughter in August 2023. According to court records, he is being charged with four counts each of murder and felonious assault and two of involuntary manslaughter. After a warrant for Grubb’s arrest was issued Tuesday morning, he turned himself in. An arraignment hearing is set for Wednesday afternoon.
Young was caught on camera stealing several bottles of liquor with two others and exiting the store when Grubb and another officer, who happened to be there helping a person get into their locked car, were flagged down by a store employee. The other officer yelled multiple times at Young to get out of her car as Grubb moved in front of it. She responded, “I didn’t steal s—,” and, “What, are you going to shoot me?” As Young began to pull out of her parking spot, the bag of liquor bottles still over her shoulder, Grubb fired through the windshield as he fell onto the hood.
The car rolled until it hit the grocery store building. Body camera footage from the officers showed her foot still on the gas as they opened the door, as well as the full encounter with her beforehand and their attempts to keep her alive afterward until she was taken to a hospital, where she and the unborn child died.
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In the days that followed, demonstrations against police took place in the parking lot and Blendon Township asserted that it couldn’t even identify the officers involved, saying they deserved the protections of crime victims under the Ohio version of Marsy’s Law. Attorneys retained by Young’s survivors eventually named Grubb as the investigation continued.
Through those attorneys, Young’s family called the indictment a “solemn victory.”
“The actions that led to the death of Ta’Kiya — the unnecessary aggression, the chilling commands that amounted to ‘comply or die’ — were there for us all to witness in dreadful clarity,” a statement read. “Ta’Kiya’s life and that of her daughter were extinguished in an act of brutality, becoming yet another symbol of the urgent need for reform in police conduct and accountability.”
Attorneys representing Grubb, 29, said the indictment was expected and that proving he’s not guilty will fall on other factors.
“This case is not about if Connor Grubb made the decision to use deadly force, but why he
made the decision to use deadly force,” a statement read. “The Supreme Court of the United States outlined specific jury instructions on the defense of justification, which governs the use of deadly force by police officers. It is crystal clear that this Grand Jury did not have access to instructions of justification as the Grand Jury is controlled solely by the special prosecutors.”
Chief John Belford said Blendon Township police will begin a disciplinary review of Grubb, who has been on paid administrative leave since the incident. And the Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents local officers expressed disappointment with the indictment.
“Grubb had to make a split-second decision,” Lodge President Brian Steel, a lieutenant with Columbus police, said. “These decisions are made under extreme pressure and often in life-threatening situations, with the primary goal of safeguarding the general public’s and their own lives.”
After the shooting, the release of details in the shooting played out over several days.
Security footage as well as police body cameras showed the incident unfold, beginning from when Young was seen placing liquor bottles into a shopping basket at the Kroger on Sunbury Road, then transferring them later into a shoulder bag. She then walked out of the store with two other women without paying for the items, setting off an alarm.
A store employee came outside and pointed out Young to the police officers.
As seen in footage released Sept. 1, one officer went to Young’s driver’s side window and ordered her out of the car multiple times as Grubb stepped in front of the car and pulled out his handgun. Young told the officer, “I didn’t steal s—,” and, “What, are you going to shoot me?” seconds before she began to pull her car forward, lifting Grubb off the ground.
Grubb, who was identified publicly by Young’s family attorney Sean Walton, fired one shot through the windshield, striking Young, and the car rolled about 50 feet before hitting the store wall.
Grubb, said multiple times that Young “was going to run me over.”
The extended footage from the officers’ body cameras showed that as they tried to pull Young out, her foot was still on the gas, causing the car to lurch forward and Young to fall to the ground.
Grubb then ran to his squad car to retrieve a chest seal. A passerby wearing an OhioHealth shirt identified himself as an emergency room physician and helped for several minutes. After the chest seal was applied, the doctor said he couldn’t locate a pulse, and the other officer began CPR. A rotation of responding officers kept up chest compressions until medics arrived about 12 minutes after the shot was fired.
Blendon Township police classified both officers involved as assault victims because the other officer’s hand was still in the window when Young started driving, and her car struck Grubb.
Brian Steel of the Fraternal Order of Police said Young was not shot for stealing alcohol but because, “following an aggravated robbery, she tried to run down a fellow human being. … Ms. Young chose to accelerate her vehicle directly into the path of an officer.”
The officers were therefore afforded victim’s rights under Marsy’s Law, which included not releasing their names. Ryan Stubenrauch, an attorney who serves as the spokesman for Blendon Township police, told NBC4 that the department had considered withholding Young’s name as well but chose not to because Young had been publicly identified by the coroner and her family.
An investigation began shortly after the shooting, and it concluded in December after Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney Mat Heck was appointed special prosecutor in the case. A decision was made to convene a grand jury.
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