Police video shows fatal shooting of Jayland Walker

Akron police shot unarmed 25-year-old Jayland Walker dozens of times after he fled from a traffic stop and led officers on a car, then foot chase, according to body cam footage released Sunday.

Six days after Walker was gunned down early Monday morning, police released two videos of footage from the officers involved in the shooting, cut down into clips and still shots.

“No amount of grief or prayer will bring Jayland back,” Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan said during a press conference Sunday, describing himself as “beyond outraged, beyond shocked.”

But Police Chief Steve Mylett blamed Walker for turning a “routine traffic stop into a pursuit” when he fled the scene, then allegedly fired a gun out of his car’s door.

When he got out of the car and continued running on foot, Walker was allegedly wearing a ski mask, Mylett said Sunday.

Akron police officers said that they tried to pull Walker over around 12:30 a.m. Monday on an unspecified traffic violation. When he didn’t stop, a chase ensued, according to the Akron Police Department’s initial statement Tuesday.

Responding police also reported “a firearm being discharged from the suspect vehicle.”

The car chase continued for several minutes until Walker jumped out of his still-rolling car and led police on a foot race through a parking lot.

Officers, believing the man “posed a deadly threat to them,” fired dozens of times.

When the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office arrived, Walker was handcuffed and laying on his back, with gunshots to the face, stomach and upper legs, according to a report obtained by the Akron Beacon Journal.

A gun was found in Walker’s car but police have not confirmed that it was fired and his family’s lawyer, Bobby DiCello, has questioned that part of the police narrative, citing the lack of damage to the back windshield of Walker’s car.

“There is no evidence that we’ve been shown, or that we’ve found, or that we know of that says that the young man somehow while driving away from the officers pointed his gun at the officers,” he previously told the Beacon Journal.

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW

Images made public Sunday showed a handgun, magazine and a gold ring on the driver’s seat of Walker’s car, but Mylett confirmed that Walker was unarmed when he was shot repeatedly.

Mylett also said that a casing was found on the road where the first shot was fired that appeared to match the gun in Walker’s car.

The eight officers have not yet provided official statements to police, Mylett said Sunday.

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Police attempted first aid, according to Mylett, but first responders declared him dead at the scene.

Horrigan canceled the city’s Fourth of July celebrations as protests hit the streets, saying now “is not the time for a city-led celebration.”

At a press conference Thursday, Walker’s mother and sister were too emotional to speak, but relatives described him as a family man and hard worker who was working at an Amazon fulfillment center and as a delivery driver for DoorDash with dreams of starting his own delivery business. His girlfriend was killed in a car accident last month.

“We don’t treat animals that way,” attorney Paige White said. “Time and again, what we see across this country are white people who are able to commit crimes, to slaughter people and who live to tell the tale. Jayland Walker wasn’t able to do that.”

Eight Akron police officers involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave.

“Any officers who fire 90 rounds at a Black man, for an alleged traffic violation, should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. This wasn’t self-defense, it wasn’t an accident in the heat of the moment, it was murder. Point blank. This Black man was killed — struck more than 60 times by 90 fired bullets – for a possible traffic violation. This doesn’t happen to white people in America,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.

“Why do police continuously target us like domestic terrorists? We are just trying to live our lives, and we are tired of being hunted like prey. We know that pulling over for the police is often a death sentence. The Akron Police Department has so much blood on their hands, and placing the officers who killed Jayland Walker on paid administrative leave won’t wash that blood away. Their response to this murder is disgusting. We demand justice for Jayland Walker now.”