Ohio Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Responds to Charges in Police Shooting of Andre Hill

The Ohio chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, the grassroots networks of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statement following the announcement that Adam Coy, the former police officer who shot and killed Andre Hill in December has been charged with murder. Coy shot and killed Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, when responding to a non-emergency call. According to Cleveland.com, video shows Hill was shot just seconds after he emerged from the garage of the home he was visiting.

“Nothing can bring back Andre or cure the pain and trauma that his family and community have experienced,” said Laura Robertson-Boyd, a volunteer with the Ohio chapter of Moms Demand Action. “These charges are a vital step towards accountability for his death and justice for his loved ones, and we will not stop fighting with our community partners to make the changes we need to stop this violence before it happens.”

The shooting of Andre Hill came just weeks after a sheriff’s deputy shot and killed Casey Goodson Jr., a Black 23-year-old in Columbus. According to WOSU, Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Meade shot and killed Goodson at the door of his house while his family was inside, including five adults and four children. 

Black people in the United States are nearly three times more likely to be shot and killed by law enforcement than their white counterparts, and data from Mapping Police Violence shows that most people killed by police are killed with guns and that 99% of killings by the police from 2013-2019 did not result in officers being charged with a crime. In Ohio, police shot and killed 204 people between 2009-2019.