A little more than 24 hours after a Franklin County grand jury declined to file murder charges against a white man that fatally shot a Black teenager last year, more than 100 protesters gathered to yell Sinzae Reed’s name in downtown Columbus.
Protesters from across Columbus gathered at the Ohio Statehouse for the “Justice for Them All” protest before marching to Columbus police headquarters and back to the Statehouse.
The protest came after 37-year-old Krieg Butler was indicted on charges of improper handling a firearm and tampering with evidence in connection with the Oct. 12, 2022 shooting that left 13-year-old Sinzae Reed dead. Butler, however, was not charged with any crime directly in connection with Sinzae’s death.
On Saturday, Sinzae’s mother, Megan Reed, was too overcome to speak to the crowd gathered, but others spoke out, calling for Butler’s arrest. As of Saturday evening, Butler had not been arrested. A warrant for his arrest was issued with the indictment on Friday.
A person can “kill a child and nothing will happen to you,” DeJuan Sharp, one of the organizers of the protest, said.
Butler reportedly told detectives after the shooting that Sinzae had a firearm and had shot at Butler, prompting Butler to fire back in self-defense. Neither police nor prosecutors have publicly confirmed whether Sinzae had a firearm at the time of the shooting, which occurred on the 700 block of Wedgewood Drive on the city’s West Side.
While the protest also focused on calling attention to Black men killed by police officers, including Donovan Lewis and Casey Goodson Jr., both of whose mothers spoke at the gathering, there was also anger expressed over the city’s decision to increase police presence in the Short North.
“They don’t care about the Hilltop, they don’t care about Linden … but they care about down the street,” Sharp said, gesturing down High Street toward the Short North, the popular entertainment district that has experienced gun violence recently.
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“When it comes to helping the communities most affected by gun violence, they’re never there,” Ramon Obey, one of the organizers of the social justice group JUST, said. “When they do come, they have resources that aren’t needed.
Obey said those at the protest can help themselves by building community with those around them which will lead to less violence.
“Wedgewood has a problem,” Obey said. “We can start by cleaning up our community. We can start by checking on our neighbors.”
The protest on Saturday was largely peaceful, even as the crowd marched and blocked traffic on High Street and in front of police headquarters on Long Street.
As the crowd took over the intersection of Broad and High streets, a vehicle attempted to drive through the protesters, prompting a portion of them to surround the vehicle and a water bottle to be thrown at the vehicle. However, other protesters broke up the group and let the driver through.
Several Columbus police officers who are part of the Division’s “dialogue team” were also on the scene to help diffuse tensions with drivers who were temporarily stopped.
Obey also acknowledged Donovan Lewis’ son, who was born recently and will never meet his father. The baby boy was at the protest, being cared for by relatives, as well as the extensive family of others who are grieving the loss of someone to violence.
“That baby is going to grow up without a father but that baby is not going to grow up without a community,” Obey said.
He also promised that Saturday evening’s event was just the start of what would be a “long, successful summer.”
bbruner@dispatch.com
@bethany_bruner
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Downtown protest calls for Krieg Butler’s arrest in Sinzae Reed case