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Javon
Williams,
13, is
comforted
by Rev.
Jaland
Finney,
left, as
he
speaks
during a
march
and
rally
for
Jayland
Walker,
Sunday,
July 3,
2022, in
Akron,
Ohio.
Also
pictured
at
center
right is
Lanette
Williams,
reacting
after
Javon's
speech.
Williams
had just
viewed
the
video
released
by
police
detailing
the
shooting
death of
Walker.
(Andrew
Dolph/Times
Reporter
via AP) |
|
Video
shows
Akron
police
kill
Jayland
Walker
in hail
of
gunfire
apnews.com
AKRON,
Ohio - A
Black
man was
unarmed
when
Akron
police
chased
him on
foot and
killed
him in a
hail of
gunfire,
but
officers
believed
he had
shot at
them
earlier
from a
vehicle
and
feared
he was
preparing
to fire
again,
authorities
said
Sunday
at a
news
conference.
Akron
police
released
video of
the
shooting
of
Jayland
Walker,
25, who
was
killed
June 27
in a
pursuit
that had
started
with an
attempted
traffic
stop.
The
mayor
called
the
shooting
“heartbreaking”
while
asking
for
patience
from the
community.
It’s not
clear
how many
shots
were
fired by
the
eight
officers
involved,
but
Walker
sustained
more
than 60
wounds.
An
attorney
for
Walker’s
family
said
officers
kept
firing
even
after he
was on
the
ground.
Officers
attempted
to stop
Walker’s
car
around
12:30
a.m. for
unspecified
traffic
and
equipment
violations,
but less
than a
minute
into a
pursuit,
the
sound of
a shot
was
heard
from the
car, and
a
transportation
department
camera
captured
what
appeared
to be a
muzzle
flash
coming
from the
vehicle,
Akron
Police
Chief
Steve
Mylett
said.
That
changed
the
nature
of the
case
from “a
routine
traffic
stop to
now a
public
safety
issue,”
he said.
Police
body
camera
videos
show
what
unfolded
after
the
roughly
six-minute
pursuit.
Several
shouting
officers
with
guns
drawn
approach
the
slowing
car on
foot, as
it rolls
up over
a curb
and onto
a
sidewalk.
A person
wearing
a ski
mask
exits
the
passenger
door and
runs
toward a
parking
lot.
Police
chase
him for
about 10
seconds
before
officers
fire
from
multiple
directions,
in a
burst of
shots
that
lasts 6
or 7
seconds.
At least
one
officer
had
tried
first to
use a
stun
gun, but
that was
unsuccessful,
police
said.
Mylett
said
Walker’s
actions
are hard
to
distinguish
on the
video in
real
time,
but a
still
photo
seems to
show him
“going
down to
his
waist
area”
and
another
appears
to show
him
turning
toward
an
officer.
He said
a third
picture
“captures
a
forward
motion
of his
arm.”
In a
statement
shared
Sunday
with
reporters,
the
local
police
union
said the
officers
thought
there
was an
immediate
threat
of
serious
harm,
and that
it
believes
their
actions
and the
number
of shots
will be
found
justified
in line
with
their
training
and
protocols.
The
union
said the
officers
are
cooperating
with the
investigation.
Police
said
more
than 60
wounds
were
found on
Walker’s
body but
further
investigation
is
needed
to
determine
exactly
how many
rounds
the
officers
fired
and how
many
times
Walker
was hit.
The
footage
released
by
police
ends
with the
officers’
gunfire
and
doesn’t
show
what
happened
next.
Officers
provided
aid, and
one can
be heard
saying
Walker
still
had a
pulse,
but he
was
later
pronounced
dead,
Mylett
said.
The
chief
said an
officer
firing
at
someone
has to
be
“ready
to
explain
why they
did what
they
did,
they
need to
be able
to
articulate
what
specific
threats
they
were
facing
... and
they
need to
be held
to
account.”
But he
said he
is
withholding
judgment
on their
actions
until
they
give
their
statements.
A
handgun,
a loaded
magazine
and an
apparent
wedding
ring
were
found on
the seat
of the
car. A
casing
consistent
with the
weapon
was
later
found in
the area
where
officers
believed
a shot
had come
from the
vehicle.
State
Attorney
General
Dave
Yost
vowed a
“complete,
fair and
expert
investigation”
by the
Ohio
Bureau
of
Criminal
Investigation
and
cautioned
that
“body-worn
camera
footage
is just
one view
of the
whole
picture.”
Akron
police
are
conducting
a
separate
internal
investigation
about
whether
the
officers
violated
department
rules or
policies.
The
officers
involved
in the
shooting
are on
paid
administrative
leave,
which is
standard
practice
in such
cases.
Seven of
them are
white,
and one
is
Black,
according
to the
department.
Their
length
of
service
with
Akron
police
ranges
from
one-and-a-half
to six
years,
and none
of them
has a
record
of
discipline,
substantiated
complaints
or fatal
shootings,
it said.
Demonstrators
marched
peacefully
through
the city
and
gathered
in front
of the
Akron
justice
center
after
the
video
was
released.
NAACP
President
Derrick
Johnson
said in
a
statement
that
Walker’s
death
wasn’t
self-defense,
but “was
murder.
Point
blank.”
Late
Sunday,
police
in full
riot
gear
fired a
dozen
tear gas
cannisters
to
disperse
a
handful
of
protesters
outside
the
justice
center,
WKYC-TV
reported.
Walker’s
family
is
calling
for
accountability
but also
for
peace,
their
lawyers
said.
One of
the
attorneys,
Bobby
DiCello,
called
the
burst of
police
gunfire
excessive
and
unreasonable,
and said
police
handcuffed
Walker
before
trying
to
provide
first
aid.
“How it
got to
this
with a
pursuit
is
beyond
me,”
DiCello
said.
He said
Walker’s
family
doesn’t
know why
he fled
from
police.
Walker
was
grieving
the
recent
death of
his
fiancee,
but his
family
had no
indication
of
concern
beyond
that,
and he
wasn’t a
criminal,
DiCello
said.
“I hope
we
remember
that as
Jayland
ran
across
that
parking
lot, he
was
unarmed,”
DiCello
said.
He said
he
doesn’t
know
whether
the gold
ring
found
near the
gun in
the car
belonged
to
Walker.
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