- The Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot a Black teen is identified as Nicholas Reardon.
- Reardon is a military-trained expert marksman, The Daily Beast reported.
- The distinction means Reardon scored high on a marksmanship test, using the Air Force’s M4A1 rifle.
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The Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot a Black teenage girl on Tuesday was a military-trained expert marksman, The Daily Beast reported.
Nicholas Reardon was identified Wednesday as the officer who shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, 16. Body-camera footage showed officers responding to a call about a fight, and Reardon shooting at Bryant four times as she lunged towards another girl while holding what appeared to be a knife.
Following the release of Reardon’s name on Wednesday, The Daily Beast uncovered old Twitter posts from his alma mater’s wrestling team, which posted updates as Reardon went through Air National Guard training in 2017.
Insider was unable to reach the Air National Guard for comment early Thursday morning.
In one January 23, 2017, tweet, the Bishop Watterson High School wrestling team said that Reardon had become an “expert marksman” on the M4A1.
The M4A1 is a type of small rifle that Military.com says is “now the standard issue firearm for most units in the US military.”
Becoming an expert marksman on the M4A1 means that Reardon would have scored high during a target practice evaluation with the firearm.
Reardon also appears to be the son of Sgt. Ted Reardon, a 32-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, The Daily Beast reported.
Ted Reardon retired from the force last year, according to a Facebook post from the department.
The post commended Reardon for “training more than 700 recruits at the Columbus Police Academy” and said he will be remembered for “his get in your face training, his heart, his devotion, his passion, and his love of Hallmark movies.”
The Facebook post also says that one of Reardon’s sons “is currently a Columbus Police recruit.” It’s likely the post was referring to Nicholas, since the May 2020 post would have been published a few months after Reardon was hired by the department in December 2019.
Insider was unable to reach the Columbus Police Department for confirmation on Nicholas Reardon and Ted Reardon’s relationship.
Bryant’s death has sparked protests in Columbus, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is leading the inquiry. Reardon has been taken off street duty, according to Interim Police Chief Michael Woods.
Bryant’s aunt told The Columbus Dispatch that the girl had become involved in an altercation with someone at her foster residence.
“She was a good kid, she was loving,” the aunt told said Tuesday, according to a video posted to Twitter. “She didn’t deserve to die like a dog on the street.”
