Facebook Briana Sykes, left, and a screenshot from a video of the Flint police shooting.
Briana Sykes was identified as the woman accused of shooting at a Flint, Michigan, police officer at a Juneteenth celebration parade; the officer then shot and killed Sykes. Video captured the moment the officer shot Sykes at close range through a car window. You can watch the video later in this article but be aware that it’s disturbing.
In a news release on June 21, 2021, Michigan State Police identified the woman who was shot and killed as Briana Sykes, 19, of Flint. On Facebook, she went by the name Briana Brown or Briana Bhaddazz Brown.
The shooting happened at 2:14 p.m. in the City of Flint involving a Flint Police Department officer, the release said.
Sykes wrote on Facebook that she lived in Redford, Michigan, and was from Detroit.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Officer Was ‘Fired Upon’ by Sykes, Police Say; Video Captured the Shooting
The video shows the officer standing outside the driver’s side of a car as he opens fire. He then collapses nearby on the ground as other officers rush to help and bystanders express great shock.
“Preliminary investigation indicates the officer, who was working a traffic point for the Juneteenth Celebration Parade, was fired upon by the lone occupant of a vehicle who drove up to him at the traffic point. Upon taking fire, the officer returned fire, striking the suspect. The suspect was transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. The officer was not injured, nor were any bystanders who were in the area,” according to a Michigan State Police statement on June 19.
Sykes “succumbed to her injuries at the hospital. This incident remains under investigation,” police said.
The Michigan State Police Bay Region confirmed that there was a police shooting in the City of Flint along the route for a parade for Juneteenth Day celebrations.
“At the request of the Flint Police Department, the Michigan State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred at approximately 2:14 p.m. in the City of Flint involving a Flint Police Officer,” the agency wrote on Twitter.
TwitterScreenshots from a video of the police shooting of Briana Sykes in Flint, Michigan.
The shooting occurred on a street that was part of the parade route.
State police said that the person who was shot fired at an officer who was working a traffic point for the Juneteenth parade.

At the request of the Flint Police Department, the Michigan State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred at approximately 2:14 p.m. in the City of Flint involving a Flint Police Officer.
Juneteenth was on June 19, 2021, and had just been declared a federal holiday by President Joe Biden. The day observes “the end of slavery in the U.S. and marks the day (June 19, 1865) when news of emancipation reached people in the deepest parts of the former Confederacy in Galveston, Texas,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
#BREAKING: Heavy police presence on Saginaw Street. No information is confirmed. We will keep you posted on the latest @midmichigannow
According to MLive, the person shot was taken to a local hospital. The shooting occurred on Saginaw Street near Leith Street, the news site reported, during the city’s Champions Parade celebrating “the city’s athletic greats and community leaders” as part of a Juneteenth celebration.
Sykes Wrote About Breonna Taylor on Facebook, Sharing Bernie Sanders’ Tweet That ‘Our Criminal Justice System Is Racist’
On Facebook, Sykes shared a cartoon showing a police outline where Breonna Taylor was killed and a police officer pointing at bullet holes in the wall saying, “How could you be so sloppy!” The post bore the caption, written by the account that first shared it, “#THISISWHYWECANTSTANDYALL.”
Sykes shared a Facebook post from civil rights activist Shaun King sharing a Bernie Sanders tweet that said, “Breonna Taylor’s life mattered. This result is a disgrace and an abdication of justice. Our criminal justice system is racist. The time for fundamental change is now.”
Sykes wrote on Facebook on May 3, 2021, “All I got is me myself and I got myself again Time is money need that money got no time for no friends🕺🏾”
“I hate a friendly ass n****,” she wrote on June 6. “Yes rob his mf a$$,” she wrote on June 9.
In January, she shared a post from the Chicago Police Department that read, “Chicago residents can rest a little easier today knowing that 11th District officers arrested an 18-year-old man and recovered a modified firearm with a laser sight and magazine drum off of our city’s West Side.”
Reaction Was Mixed on Social Media
I waited two hours for the Juneteenth Parade on Saginaw Street only to find out it was interrupted by a shooting less than a mile away.
Flint we MUST do better..
THIS IS SAD!
Many commenters on social media expressed anger and sadness over the shooting.
Local journalist Bria Jones wrote on Twitter, “I waited two hours for the Juneteenth Parade on Saginaw Street only to find out it was interrupted by a shooting less than a mile away. Flint we MUST do better.. THIS IS SAD!”
“You were scared, you were hurting, your life mattered. Rest In Peace Bri 
Also grateful the officer or no one else was harmed 
,” one person commented on her Facebook page.
Others expressed support for local police. “Sounds like the officer did his job.. he should be given a medal. He probably kept innocent bystanders from being injured or killed. Great job to the officer,” one person commented on the Flint Police Department’s Facebook page.
Another wrote, “The video absolutely tore my heart out. The officer had not choice. You could tell he didn’t want to shoot. Cried right along with him.”
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