NBA superstar LeBron James responded on social media to the fatal shooting of a Black teenager by police officers in Columbus, Ohio -- but later deleted the post.
The four-time MVP took to social media on Wednesday to call for "accountability" for an officer who appeared to fire the fatal shots at 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant on Tuesday afternoon.
The jarring episode, caught on video by the officers' body cams as well as by witness cell phone footage, happened shortly after a jury in Minneapolis returned a verdict of guilty on all charges against former police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.
The horrific footage, in which Bryant appeared to be wielding a knife amid some kind of confrontation, sparked outrage on social media, where a new incident of police-involved violence was a sobering reminder for those relishing the outcome of the Chauvin case.
Protests later broke out in downtown Columbus.
James' post included a photo of an officer, and was captioned "YOU'RE NEXT." He closed the post with the hashtag "#ACCOUNTABILITY."
James' deleted post seemed to be a callback to one of his posts on Tuesday -- "accountability" in all caps -- which he appeared to publish in response to the Chauvin verdict.
James later explained why he deleted the posts in a pair of followup tweets, saying he took down the tweet because it was "being used to create more hate."
Authorities on Wednesday identified the officer in question as Nicholas Reardon, a veteran of about 18 months. They also released additional bodycam footage from the incident, and said Reardon was off street duty pending an investigation of the shooting.
"We don't yet have all of the facts," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther told reporters, "but we do know that a 16-year-old girl, a child of this community, tragically died last night.
"Bottom line: Did Ma'Khia Bryant need to die yesterday? How did we get here? This is a failure on the part of our community. Some are guilty, but all of us are responsible."
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