Former police officer Derek Chauvin has been moved to a maximum-security prison in Minnesota, following his conviction in the George Floyd murder trial as he awaits sentencing.
Mr Chauvin, who served as a police officer in Minneapolis for more than 19 years, was convicted on three counts on Tuesday for killing Mr Floyd on May 25th last year.
The video of Mr Floyd's death, which was caused by Mr Chauvin kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes as he died, sparked protests across the United States and the world, leading to one of the highest-profile trials in Minnesota's history.
Mr Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement prison in Oak Park Heights, a suburb of St Paul, the city located just across the Mississippi river from Minneapolis. At the trial's conclusion on Tuesday, Judge Peter Cahill said the defendant would be sentenced in eight weeks, though a pre-sentencing court hearing is expected at some point before then.
Mr Chauvin had been released on bail after he was initially charged with the murder, but that bail was revoked on Tuesday.
Ohio shooting
Meanwhile, the police officer who shot and killed a 16-year-old girl in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday has been put on administrative leave.
Ma’Khia Bryant was shot multiple times after police responded to a 911 call. The fatal incident took place just minutes before the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial was announced.
It is believed that authorities in Ohio decided to publicly release the bodycam video of the incident on Tuesday night after reports of the standoff circulated on social media. More footage was released on Wednesday. It shows the deceased wielding a knife in an altercation with another person.
Investigation
Speaking in Columbus, the city's mayor, Andrew Ginther, said state investigators were investigating the matter. "If the officer involved was wrong... we will hold him accountable," he said.
“We don’t yet have all of the facts but we do know that a 16-year-old girl, a child of this community, tragically died last night,” he said. “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.”
Immediately after the incident he said that “based on this footage, the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community”.
House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that president Biden had been briefed on the shooting. "The killing of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant by the Columbus police is tragic. She was a child. We're thinking of her friends and family in the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss," she said.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in downtown Columbus on Tuesday night, while others gathered outside the Columbus police headquarters.
Several police shootings have occurred in recent weeks even as the Derek Chauvin trial reached its climax.
It emerged last week that a police officer shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago on March 29th, while 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed by an officer in the Brooklyn Center area of Minneapolis on April 11th.
