WASHINGTON >> A former Ohio police officer was found guilty of murder by a jury today for fatally shooting Andre Hill, an unarmed black man.

Adam Coy, a white man and a nearly 20-year veteran of the Columbus police force, killed Hill, 47, in December 2020 while responding to a non-emergency disturbance call about car noise.

The jury in the Franklin County Common Pleas Court case deliberated for about two and a half days.

Footage from Coy’s body-worn camera showed Hill holding a glowing cellphone in one hand as he emerged from the shadows of the garage before Coy opened fire. Hill died in hospital a short time later.

Throughout 2020, there were anti-racist protests across the country against police brutality, peaking after the killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes.

Coy, who is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 25, told jurors he thought Hill was holding a gun.