Ta’Kiya Young dreamed of social work and a home for her kids

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ta’Kiya Young had big dreams for her growing family, and for herself.

Seven months pregnant, the 21-year-old Ohio woman loved to spoil her two sons and was thrilled to be expecting a daughter. She bought onesies, scheduled a photo shoot and showed off her belly. And she applied for public housing so they could have their own place while she pursued her goal of becoming a social worker.

Instead, Young and her unborn daughter were buried together — the mother in bright fuchsia and the daughter in white. Neither survived the shooting of a police officer in the parking lot of a grocery store where Young had been suspected of shoplifting in August 2023.

A jury on Friday acquitted the officer, Connor Grubb, of criminal wrongdoing. Her grandmother sobbed in the courtroom, yelling “This is not right!”

Young treated her young boys — now 8 and 5 — like kings, dressing them up, cooking them steaks and indulging them with too many sweets. A relative called Young a smart young woman who was “beautiful inside and out.”

Mourners celebrated her joyful spirit at her funeral by wearing various shades of her favorite color, bright pink. Her mother had died just a year earlier.

The family’s lawyers vowed Friday to keep pursuing their civil claim against Blendon Township and its police chief, seeking accountability for her death despite the verdict.

“Ta’Kiya’s two sons deserve to know that their mother’s life mattered. They deserve financial security. They deserve to grow up in a world where pregnant Black women are not killed by police over shoplifting accusations,” the lawyers said. “And they deserve a legal system that delivers accountability even when a criminal jury cannot.”