Video Shows Officer Fatally Shoot Black Man Seconds After Opening Bedroom Door

Donovan Lewis, 20, had a few warrants out for his arrest — but none that he or his family expected would cost him his life.

On Tuesday, the Columbus Division of Police and city officials released body camera footage 12 hours after the fatal police shooting of Lewis, The Columbus Dispatch reports. They also released information about two other recent police shootings in the last eight days.

The body cam footage shows Columbus K-9 officer Ricky Anderson and other officers enter the second-floor apartment of a three-story building looking for Lewis. He was wanted on several outstanding warrants. Anderson, a 30-year veteran, is seen firing shots into Lewis’ bedroom within less than a second of entry.

Lewis is seen lying on his left side of the bed when he was hit in the abdomen and fell face down.

An officer yells “hands” repeatedly before ordering Lewis to “crawl out here.” But the wounded Lewis remains on the bed.

“I’m going in; cover me,” one officer says. Two officers enter the room and tell Lewis at least twice to put his hands behind his back.

The footage continues, “I need cuffs. I’m out of cuffs.”

An officer picks up Lewis’ right arm and folds it to place him in handcuffs. Lewis releases an audible moan as one of the officers says, “Put your hands behind your back, now.”

“Stop resisting,” another officer says. One officer attempts to render aid by applying medical bandages and CPR.

Reportedly, Lewis was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where he died at 3:19 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Police Chief Elaine Bryant confirmed that Lewis was unarmed and a vape pen was found lying next to him in the bed. Lewis’s family has since lawyered up and announced their plans to file a suit against the city and police, ABC 6 reports.

“The bodycam footage released yesterday afternoon says it all,” Rex Elliot, an attorney for Lewis’s family, said.

“In literally the blink of an eye, a Columbus police officer shot and killed Donovan Lewis, an unarmed young Black man who was alone in his bed in the middle of the night. As a result of this entirely reckless behavior by a Columbus police officer, a family is left to grieve the loss of such a young soul.”