Ma’Khia Bryant’s biological mother ‘plans to SUE’ as family blame foster system for failing daughter, 16, after she was shot and killed by police
- Deja Torrence, the 16-year-old girl’s cousin, told Insider that her mother Hazel Bryant had spoken with Bryant’s biological mother Paula throughout the week
- Torrence said they were in talks with a lawyer to file a lawsuit
- It was not immediately clear who the family wants to sue or when it would be filed
- Members of the family have claimed Bryant was failed by the foster care system before her death
- Angela Moore, Bryant’s foster mother, told CNN on Friday that two of her former foster children had showed up to the house to to celebrate her birthday
- Moore said the girls then fought with Bryant over the tidiness of the home
Ma’Khia Bryant’s biological mother plans to sue after after her daughter was shot and killed by police outside of her home, it has been revealed.
Deja Torrence, the 16-year-old girl’s cousin, told Insider that her mother Hazel Bryant had spoken with Bryant’s biological mother Paula throughout the week.
Torrence said that they were in talks with a lawyer to file a lawsuit in the wake of Bryant’s death outside her foster home in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear who the family wants to sue or when it would be filed – but members of the family have claimed Bryant was failed by the foster care system before her death.
Torrence said that Bryant had called the police for help when two women fought with her. When officers arrived, body camera shows Bryant was shot while lunging at one of the girls with a knife.
Paula Bryant, her biological mother, said she is ‘hurt’ and ‘wants answers’ after her death
Ma’Khia Bryant’s biological mother plans to sue after after her daughter was shot and killed by police outside of her home in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday
Hazel Bryant reacts after her niece, 15-year-old Makiyah Bryant, was fatally shot by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio
‘Someone has to be held accountable. The family just doesn’t want this to be another senseless killing that goes under the rug and gets overlooked,’ Torrence told Insider.
Angela Moore, Bryant’s foster mother, told CNN on Friday that two of her former foster children had showed up to the house to to celebrate her birthday when they fought with Bryant over the tidiness of the home.
‘It was over keeping the house clean,’ Moore said, who was at work when the shooting happened. ‘The older one told them to clean up the house because ‘Mom doesn’t like the house dirty.’
Moore said that Bryant and the girls would ‘argue all the time.’
‘I never in my worst nightmare would have thought it would ever come to this,’ she told CNN.
Nicholas Reardon, who shot Bryant at around 4.45pm on Tuesday on the 3100 block of Legion Lane, has been taken off street duty while the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigates the shooting, the outlet reported.
Reardon, a Staff Sergeant in the Air National Guard, also serves in the 121st Security Forces Squadron.
Torrence told Inside that Bryant’s biological family has not been in contact with her foster family since her death earlier this week.
Bryant had allegedly complained about her foster home ‘several times’ to members of her family before her death – but she did not detail those claims to Insider over legal concerns.
Ma’Khia Bryant, foreground, is pictured holding a knife while lunging toward another girl
Bryant was then shot to death by police officer Nicholas Reardon who responded to the scene
Bryant is pictured on the ground after the shooting
‘There’s been some talk about the foster family in the past, of how she’s had issues with the foster family. So as a family, we’ve tried to kind of navigate that over the years,’ Torrence told the outlet.
‘I haven’t been in contact with them, but I want people to know that we should be holding somebody accountable for the 16-year-old kid’s death.’
She added: ‘They had custody of her, and so I just feel like the foster parents, and everyone in the foster system that was involved, failed her in that regard.’
Torrence told the outlet that Bryant had lived with her briefly when she was younger and remembered her as a ‘girly girl.’
The Columbus cop who fatally shot Ma’Khia Bryant has been identified by the Daily Beast as a member of the Air National Guard. Nicholas Reardon reportedly received the ‘expert marksman’ badge while in training
Paula Bryant, Makhia Bryant’s biological mother, is pictured in an undated photo
She spent a lot of her time making cosmetology videos for TikTok and dreamed of going to cosmetology school, Torrence said.
‘She’s always been a girly girl and has always been into hair and eyebrows and makeup,’ Torrence said. ‘I’m a lot older than her, but I just remember, like, always telling her, ‘Girl, you’re too young to be thinking about this.”
Bryant’s biological mother said in an interview on Thursday that her ‘beautiful baby’ was taken from her.
‘I love God and I’m just going to put it in God’s hands right now. That’s all I know how to do,’ she said.
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