CNN guest calls Ma'Khia Bryant's attempted stabbing a 'schoolyard fight'

The setup here is that Jake Tapper had former NAACP lead Cornell Brooks on the show to talk about yesterday’s Ma'Khia Bryant incident. Brooks makes the argument that people have a right to question the response made by Officer Nicholas Reardon to shoot Bryant.

An investigation is currently ongoing and Columbus city officials are making the facts known as soon as they can.

But newly released bodycam footage and 911 recordings confirm the circumstances about the  situation. Bryant was armed with a knife and Reardon shot Bryant moments before she attempted to use it in a fight.

"Well where we have police homicide as a leading cause of death among men… black people being disproportionately killed at the hands of the police… it is not wrong, it is in fact right for people to ask: is it appropriate? Was it the right thing, was it a necessary thing, for a police officer within minutes, pulling out his gun and firing four bullets into a teenager’s body?”

It wasn't within minutes, rather a split second judgement call. “The officer took action to protect another young girl in our community," said Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther.

Brooks continues to speak as CNN host Jake Tapper listens along, silently.

“It is a right thing to ask that question. So in other words, not everything that you’re permitted to do, is something that you should in fact do. And the question we have to ask ourselves: what if it were your daughter, what if it were your child, what if it were a member of your family, your neighbor? Essentially in a teenage fight, a schoolyard fight? Certainly the facts will emerge, but we are right to ask why can't we put the accent on preserving life? Children’s lives, instead of simply assuming the best thing we could do, is simply kill another child."

Brooks isn't the only one pushing this angle. BLM activist Bree Newsome took to Twitter to state that "Teenagers have been having fights including fights involving knives for eons. We do not need police to address these situations."