Gruesome videos, Jayland Walker’s motions intensify debate; attorney refutes city’s claims
Jayland Walker was unarmed, wearing a ski mask and running from his car when bullets instantly dropped him in a parking lot at Wilbeth Avenue and Main Street.
In the next six seconds while laying on the asphalt, Walker’s body twitched and rolled as eight Akron police officers fired 90 or more rounds that hit the 25-year-old Black man 60 or more times, according to a preliminary coroner’s investigation that has yet to match all the bullets and holes. Tasers also were deployed, according to police.
These grisly and critical details were confirmed Sunday in the city’s partial release of body-worn camera footage during a press conference at the Firestone Park Community Center, located less than a half-mile from the fatal June 27 shooting.
Graphic content warning: Body camera videos show shooting death of Jayland Walker
At the meeting for journalists, who were given the location just two hours prior as protests continued for a fifth day downtown, Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett detailed — for the first time — why officers mistakenly suspected that Walker was armed, as well as the motion Walker made that led officers to fear for their lives.
He released information, but not names, on the eight officers involved. Their service ranges from 1½ to six years, with five at the 2½-year mark. Seven are white. One is Black. And one is female.
None has prior discipline, a substantiated complaint or a fatal shooting on his or her record, though the city of Akron has yet to provide their full personnel files per a records request made by the