COLUMBUS, Ohio — Family members of Donovan Lewis shared passionate cries outside of the Columbus Police Headquarters Friday night at a demonstration, demanding justice for his death.
“He was crazy silly, crazy happy. He just loved everybody, he loved life,” said Lewis’ mother, Rebbeca Duran through tears.
Lewis, 20, was fatally shot by an officer who was serving a search warrant at an apartment on Sullivant Avenue in the Hilltop neighborhood early Tuesday morning.
The family was joined by approximately 100 protestors who marched and gave speeches calling for police reform after Lewis' death when Columbus K9 officer Ricky Anderson fired a single shot into his bedroom within one second of opening the door.
Lewis was wanted by police for domestic violence and had a felony warrant on a gun charge. Police body camera footage shows officers yelling for him to come out of his apartment for 10 minutes. Police say he had a vape pen and no gun.
Questions were raised after the city released body camera footage 12 hours after Lewis' death.
“He was unarmed and this is completely unaccepted. There needs to be accountability and transparency in the investigation into why he was murdered by Columbus police,” said Laura Robertson Boyd, a volunteer group lead for the Columbus chapter of Moms Demand Action.
The officer's attorney said whether he was unarmed is irrelevant, but what matters is whether he was perceived as a threat.
Lewis’ death now traumatizes other mothers like Adrienne Hood who also lost her son to a police-involved shooting.
"The pain for a parent to lose a child, especially in this way, I feel like this is the worst thing on this side of heaven,” said Hood. “Every single time, because I know, I know the scream of that mother, I know the pain and brokenness of her heart and her family.”
Hood said action doesn’t stop on the streets.
“We are fighting for the end to qualified immunity and for two, to create ways where it is easier for officers to be prosecuted,” said Hood.
This case is being investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and police have not said why Anderson fired his gun.