AKRON — Jayland Walker, the 25-year-old man shot and killed in late June in a hail of bullets fired by Akron police was unarmed at the time of the shooting, police said Sunday, our sister station 10TV in Columbus reported.
New video released by the city of Akron and the Akron Police Department on Sunday included a narrated timeline of the events that led to the shooting on June 27. Text in the video indicated that police attempted to stop Walker for a traffic violation. They said he refused to stop and drove off, which led to a pursuit.
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The video showed a flash of light coming from the driver’s seat of Walker’s vehicle, 10TV reported. Police said Walker fired gunshots at the cruisers.
The pursuit continued on the highway and through city streets for several minutes, 10TV said.
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The video showed Walker’s vehicle slowing near an intersection on Akron’s south side and Walker getting out of the moving vehicle wearing a ski mask, running, 10TV reported.
About eight officers chased Walker on foot. One deployed a Taser but that was unsuccessful, according to 10TV.
Walker continued to run to a nearby parking lot and the video showed officers firing multiple times at him after he stopped and quickly turned around toward the officers, 10TV reported.
Police said officers discharged their guns because Walker made a motion that caused them to fear for their lives.
Social media posts claimed that about 90 rounds were fired and Walker was struck 60 times. Initial medical examiner reports indicated Walker suffered more than 60 gunshot wounds, although it is still being determined how many were entrance and exit wounds, according to Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett.
No officers were reportedly injured, 10TV said.
After doing an initial inspection of Walker’s vehicle, officers found a handgun, loaded magazine and a gold ring.
The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard practice in such cases, 10TV reported.
Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett said the nature of the case has changed from “a routine traffic stop to now a public safety issue.”
The chief said he has watched the video dozens of times and Walker’s actions at the time are hard to distinguish, but a still photo seems to show him “going down to his waist area” and another appears to show him turning toward an officer and a third picture “captures a forward motion of his arm.”
Bobby DiCello, the attorney representing Walker’s family, spoke after the media briefing, accusing Akron officials of only showing snapshots of the incident that turned Walker into a “masked monster with a gun.”
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The findings of Walker’s death were announced this week by the Summit County Medical Examiners Office.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has taken over the investigation at the request of Akron police, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Sunday, he said people deserve answers and “they shall have them.”
“The goal is the truth, and we need to talk to anyone who knows anything,” Yost said. “Silence will never produce justice.”
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, on Sunday evening, issued a statement about Walker’s death, calling it a tragedy.
“The Walker family and the entire Akron community deserve a thorough and transparent investigation of why we are mourning yet another young, Black life cut short,” Brown said. “This is every Black parent’s worst fear of what a traffic stop will turn into.”
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