COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jurors at the murder trial of an Ohio officer charged in the death of a pregnant Black mother who had been accused of shoplifting were asked Wednesday to focus on answering one question: Was it “reasonable” for him to fatally shoot her?
A prosecutor said in her closing argument that 21-year-old Ta’Kiya Young wasn’t a threat to Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb when he shot her in a supermarket parking lot. Rather, she was trying to get away.
“The state is not saying that the defendant woke up that morning and wanted to discharge his firearm,” Montgomery County Prosecutor Erin Claypoole said. “The state is saying when he made that decision, it was not a reasonable one, which means it was not a justified shooting.”
Defense attorney Mark Collins accused the prosecution of advancing “false narratives" about the sequence of events. In his closing, he downplayed prosecutors' emphasis on death being a severe penalty for the misdemeanor crime that Young was alleged to have committed. Instead, he highlighted that Grubb feared for his life as he perceived she was accelerating her vehicle toward him and felt himself being struck. That fear made his use of force “objectively reasonable,” the defense has said.
“The reaction of his use of force wasn’t prompted because of the theft from the store," he said. "It was the car coming at him. It’s just not that complicated, ladies and gentlemen.”
Grubb faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder. He’s also charged with involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault in Young’s death on Aug. 24, 2023. Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Young, no relation to Ta’Kiya, dropped four of 10 counts against him that related to the death of Young’s unborn daughter, agreeing with his attorneys Tuesday that prosecutors failed to present proof that Grubb knew Young was pregnant when he shot her.
The prosecution and defense both rested Tuesday after a roughly two-week trial. Jurors were shown bodycam video of the shooting, and heard testimony from a use-of-force expert, an accident reconstructionist, the officer who with Grubb had ordered Young out of her car and a police policy expert.
They never heard from Grubb, whose side of the story was contained in a written statement read into the record by a special agent for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Prosecutors were not able to question Grubb himself in court.
Sean Walton, an attorney representing Young’s family, Nadine Young, Ta’Kiya’s grandmother, and an aunt, Michelle White, said they had expected Grubb to take the stand.
“It is curious that he did not testify. But the video speaks for itself and if he wants the video to speak for him, then so be it,” Walton said. Jurors also saw the bodycam video of the other officer, Sgt. Erick Moynihan, during the proceedings.
Young and White appeared emotionally tired while taking questions from reporters Tuesday. White said that the verdict will allow the family “to finally be able to start the healing process.” At various times, Nadine held back tears while talking about the toll of the trial.
“I just gotta hold on to God and just know, God, he’s in control,” Nadine said.
Grubb and Moynihan had approached Young’s car outside a Kroger in suburban Columbus about a report that she was suspected of stealing alcohol from the store. She partially lowered her window and protested as both officers cursed at her and yelled at her to get out. On bodycam video, Young could be heard asking them, “Are you going to shoot me?”
Then, she put on a turn signal and her car rolled slowly forward toward Grubb, who fired a single bullet through her windshield into her chest, the bodycam recording showed.
In the statement, Grubb said he positioned himself in front of Young’s vehicle to provide proper backup. He said he drew his gun after he heard Young fail to comply with Moynihan’s commands. When her car moved toward him, he said, he felt the vehicle hit his legs and shins and begin to lift his body off the ground as he shot.
Moments later, after the car came to a stop against the building, the officers are seen breaking the driver’s side window. Police said they tried to save her life, but she was mortally wounded. Young and her unborn daughter were subsequently pronounced dead at a hospital.
A full-time officer with the township since 2019, Grubb was placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting.
FILE - Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb listens while appearing via video from jail for his arraignment hearing, Aug. 14, 2024, at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)
FILE - Nadine Young, grandmother of Ta'Kiya Young, shows her shirt to reporters after arraignment proceedings of Blendon Township police officer Connor Grubb, Aug. 14, 2024, at the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus. (AP Photo/David Dermer, file)
A person stands outside of the Franklin County Common Pleas Courthouse on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
