On Sunday evening, demonstrators gathered in front of the city’s main courtroom in Akron, Ohio, and police responded by firing a barrage of tear gas at them.
The new demonstration happened shortly after the Akron Police Department made the bodycam video of Jayland Walker, 25, was shot dead public.
Following a traffic encounter on June 27, Walker was shot at least 60 times by Akron police before being murdered.
In reaction to a protester who was tearing down barriers that had been built up outside of the police headquarters, riot police used tear gas. According to WKYC, authorities responded by emerging in “full riot gear.”
The city does not appear to have sustained any significant property damage, but a row of burning dumpsters was also captured on camera.
On Sunday evening, demonstrators gathered in front of the city’s main courtroom in Akron, Ohio, and police responded by firing a barrage of tear gas at them.
The new demonstration happened shortly after the Akron Police Department made the bodycam video of Jayland Walker, 25, was shot dead public.
Following a traffic encounter on June 27, Walker was shot at least 60 times by Akron police before being murdered.
In reaction to a protester who was tearing down barriers that had been built up outside of the police headquarters, riot police used tear gas. According to WKYC, authorities responded by emerging in “full riot gear.”
The city does not appear to have sustained any significant property damage, but a row of burning dumpsters was also captured on camera.
The chase happened in Franklin Township, a suburb of Akron.
“We believe the impartial inquiry will support the officers’ conduct, including the amount of rounds fired,” the press release continues. Both the choice to use fatal force and the quantity of rounds fired adhere to use of force policies and officers’ training.
After police published the body camera footage on Sunday, the Akron NAACP held a demonstration and march in the city’s center. The protests against the Akron Police Department are now in their fourth day and are demanding accountability and transparency.
According to Cleveland.com, the demonstration that took place in front of the courtroom and the police headquarters was not associated with the NAACP march.
These racist police officers must be fired, the mob outside the courtroom tweeted. Many participants in the NAACP march subsequently joined the demonstration outside the police station, according to Cleveland.com.
The website described a woman as saying, “I didn’t know him, but I feel y’all anguish,” over a megaphone.
I want you all to know that this is popular everywhere, including Germany and Nigeria.
This cannot keep happening to us. My heart breaks for everyone who is dying on these streets. We must unite because it isn’t right.
That woman stated during her speech that she was reluctant to get her son a toy gun out of concern that cops would mistake it for a real weapon.
That was murder, a Black Panther with a gun told 19 News on Sunday. Police are lying. He was being shot as he fled.
He was eluding them as he fled. That was homicide.
According to the station, the man participated in the protest with at least three other armed males.
LeBron James, who is a native of Akron and plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, tweeted: “I pray for my city today” shortly after the bodycam tape was made public.
‘Akron is our home and it is our daily work to build up and bring people together in constructive and peaceful ways, which is what we will support today and always,’ LeBron wrote in a different message on the Instagram page of his foundation.
“This begins with justice and accountability first, and then it progresses to love, family, and coming together to make change,” it said.
We are related.
The video’s other commenter, Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan, described it as “heartbreaking” and “impossible to take in.”
Walker’s family’s attorney Bobby DiCello described the footage as “brutal” in remarks printed on Saturday by the Akron Beacon Journal.
He claimed that Walker’s kin were concerned that this weekend’s rallies would turn violent.
The family does not need any more violence, DiCello said, adding that everyone was preparing for the community’s reaction.
On Sunday, officials joined the family in urging nonviolent protests as enraged locals took to the streets.
We don’t show creditability if we don’t do it correctly, Walker’s aunt Minnie pleaded.
According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the Akron Police Department used tear gas on demonstrators several times in May 2020, just during the demonstrations following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Walker escaped on foot as multiple officers approached his vehicle and opened fire, as seen in the horrifying video.
According to the family’s attorney, the hail of shots sounded like “a whole brick of fireworks going off.”
A gun was also shown on the front seat of Walker’s automobile in the scene video, debunking prior claims that the 25-year-old had been unarmed.
During the chase, Walker’s car appeared to fire a gun flash that was caught on camera.
Walker allegedly fired a gun at chasing cops, according to Akron police.
Walker had sustained 60 gunshot wounds as a result of the encounter, according to the medical examiner, Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett revealed on Sunday.
Although the precise number of shots fired is still being determined, initial estimates indicated a shower of 90 bullets.
When the firing stopped, according to Mylett, officers tended to Walker, but he passed away there.
The shooting immediately involved eight police officers. Mylett claimed that while the Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigates the incident, they have been placed on administrative leave.
The shooting was the most recent in a string of unjustly black males killed by law officers in the United States, including the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 that sparked widespread protests against racial injustice and police violence.
During the news briefing on Sunday, police disclosed two body-camera tapes from the fatal shooting.
In the first video, police can be seen pursuing Walker’s silver Buick on Route 8 in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood at roughly 2:30 in the morning.
They made an effort to stop him for a traffic and equipment infraction.
The footage showed Walker’s car entering an onramp and a flash of light coming from the driver’s side of Walker’s car, which according to Mylett appeared to be the flash of a gun.
Officers claimed they heard at least one gun fired from Walker’s vehicle, according to video captured by a second camera. Cops continue their pursuit of Walker on city streets once they leave Route 8.
Before the car came to a complete halt, Walker slowed the vehicle down and hopped out. The 25-year-old is then captured on camera escaping the vehicle’s passenger side door while wearing a ski mask.
Walker, who appeared to be looking over his shoulder as police opened fire on him, is pursued by numerous officers.
According to Mylett, who claims to have studied the film at least 40 times, there are still images of Walker that appear to show him reaching for his waistline, turning to face the police, and extending an arm.