Adam Coy, Ohio Police Officer, Found Guilty of Murder in Andre Hill Shooting

An Ohio jury found the officer, Adam Coy, guilty on three charges, including murder and reckless homicide, after he shot Andre Hill, a Black man. The killing led to police reforms.

A former Columbus, Ohio, police officer was found guilty of murder on Monday in the 2020 shooting of Andre Hill, a Black man whose death spurred protests against police brutality and led to police reforms in the city.

A Franklin County jury also found the officer, Adam Coy, who is white, guilty of two other charges, felonious assault and reckless homicide. Mr. Coy was taken into custody after the verdict was read. He will be sentenced on Nov. 25.

“Today was fair,” Shawna Barnett, one of Mr. Hill’s sisters, told the local news station WBNS-10TV. “Justice spoke, and we got what we wanted. We got what was fair and right.”

Mr. Coy, who had served in the Columbus police for 19 years, shot Mr. Hill on Dec. 22, 2020, just weeks after a county sheriff’s deputy killed a Black man in the state capital and months after George Floyd’s murder set off protests against racism and police brutality around the country.

Mr. Coy was responding with another officer to a call about a suspicious S.U.V. parked in a residential area. His body camera footage showed that he approached a garage and shined a light inside. As Mr. Hill walked slowly toward the officers, the video shows, Mr. Coy pulled his gun and shot Mr. Hill four times.

Mr. Coy and his lawyers argued at his trial that he believed his life was in danger when he shot Mr. Hill because he believed he was holding a gun, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

No weapon was recovered at the scene, the city announced shortly after the shooting.

Brian A. Steel, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police lodge that represents thousands of law enforcement officers in the county, said that Mr. Coy’s actions in a fast-evolving situation had been based on his training.

“We mourn with the community over the tragic loss of Mr. Hill, but we stand firm in our belief that Officer Coy was subject to political and media bias that no one should face in a court of law,” Mr. Steel said in a statement.

Mr. Hill’s death reverberated quickly throughout the city. Mr. Coy was fired within days of the shooting for not immediately turning on his body camera and for not immediately providing aid to Mr. Hill. About a month later, the City Council passed “Andre’s Law,” requiring officers to turn on their body cameras during policing interactions and to give medical aid and call for help if they cause injuries while using force.

Mr. Hill was one of four Black residents fatally shot by law enforcement in Columbus over four months in late 2020 and early 2021.

City officials agreed to pay $10 million to Mr. Hill’s family in a 2021 settlement that they described as the largest ever paid out by the city.

Three other law enforcement officers are awaiting trial on murder charges in separate cases in Franklin County, according to a spokesman for the county prosecutor’s office.