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An Ohio grand jury declined to indict eight police officers who fired 94 rounds in the shooting death last year of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who fired at least one shot at officers during a car and foot chase, the state’s attorney general announced Monday.
Walker was shot 40 times in a hail of gunfire that lasted just under seven seconds after he jumped out of his still-moving car and ran from police, said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
Walker ignored commands to stop running and show his hands and then reached for his waistband as officers were chasing and raised his hand, Yost said. Some of the officers first used Tasers before firing their guns, he said.
But the officers, not knowing Walker left his gun in the car, believed he was going to fire again at them, Yost said. Yost said it is critical to remember that Walker had fired at police, and that he “shot first.”
Walker’s death last June sparked protests in Akron after police released body camera footage showing him dying in a hail of gunfire. Activists, including from the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, spoke about his death. The NAACP and an attorney for Walker’s family called on the Justice Department to open a federal civil rights investigation.
President Joe Biden responded to the shooting during a trip to Ohio last summer by saying the DOJ was monitoring the case.
The state investigation found that police first saw Walker driving with a broken taillight and a broken light on his rear license plate, but they decided not to follow him. They saw him 10 minutes later at the same intersection and decided to pursue him for the equipment violation, Yost said.
