Ohio officers won’t be charged in shooting of Jayland Walker

Akron — Ohio’s attorney general said Monday that eight police officers who fired dozens of shots at 25-year-old black man Jayland Walker will not be charged in his death after a grand jury refused to press charges. Announced.

Walker’s death last June He sparked protests in Akron after police released body camera footage showing him shot and killed. He said he refused to stop when he tried to do so, but did not provide further details.

Police pursued the vehicle on highways and city streets, but Walker escaped from the still-moving car and fled into a parking lot, ignoring police orders, where Walker, wearing a ski mask, died. Officials said he represented a “mortal threat”. A handgun, a loaded magazine, and a wedding ring were found in the driver’s seat of his car.

Yost said Walker fired at least one shot from the vehicle at police and jumped out of the vehicle before ignoring orders to stop and show his hands. “I have no doubt he actually shot the police officer,” Yost said.

Yost said Walker reached into his waistband and raised his hand as officers pursued him. Yost said he believed he did.

Yost said it was important to remember that Walker fired at the police and that he “fired first.”

Walker’s family, who were unarmed at the time, called it the brutal and senseless shooting of a man whose fiancé had recently died. He said he believes there is, and that their actions are in line with their training and protocol.

The blurry body camera footage did not clearly show what authorities said was a threatening gesture that Walker made before he was shot. Police chased him for about 10 seconds before officers opened fire from multiple directions.

The eight officers, whose names have not been released, were initially on leave but returned to administrative duties three and a half months after the shooting.

The county coroner said Walker was shot at least 40 times. autopsy It also said no illegal drugs or alcohol were detected in his body.

Last summer, prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office introduced the case to a grand jury after taking over the investigation at the request of the Akron Police Department.

City leaders are meeting with community leaders, church groups, activists and business owners ahead of the grand jury meeting to prepare for possible protests.

The city created a designated downtown protest zone outside the City Hall building, where workers put plywood on the first-floor windows. There is also a temporary fence around the courthouse.

Walker’s death received widespread attention from activists, including the family of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP and the Walker family’s attorney. called the Justice Department Initiate a federal civil rights investigation.

President Joe Biden said during a trip to Ohio last summer that the DOJ was monitoring the incident.

The city is considering setting up a designated protest zone downtown outside the City Hall building, and workers are already plywooding the first-floor windows. There are fences.

Twenty-four hours before the chase, police in nearby New Franklin Township attempted to stop a vehicle matching Walker’s vehicle, also for an unspecified minor offense. When the car crossed the town boundary with Akron, the supervisor there called off the chase.

Walker was grieving the recent death of his fiancée, but his family showed no further concern.