“I won’t mince words, the video you’re about to watch is heartbreaking,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said at a news conference Sunday. “I urge all of our residents to exercise good judgment until our investigation is complete.” Dashcam footage released Sunday began with officers chasing Jayland Walker in their squad cars around 12:30 a.m. on Monday after refusing to be pulled over for an alleged traffic violation. Police said about 40 seconds after he fled, officers heard “the sound of a gunshot” coming from his car door. The car chase lasted several minutes before Walker, wearing a ski mask, got out of his silver Buick through the passenger door and fled on foot. Police said officers unsuccessfully tried to detain him with a Taser and the chase continued into a nearby parking lot. There, Walker “quickly turned toward the officers” and fired a volley of gunfire at them, police said. Disturbing body camera footage shows Walker quickly crumpled to the ground as countless shots are heard. Police Chief Stephen Mylett confirmed Sunday that Walker was “unarmed” when he was killed. Officers found a handgun, a loaded magazine and a gold ring in the driver’s seat of his car. Walker still had a pulse as officers tried to load him into the squad car, Mylett added. He could not say how many bullets were fired, but Walker had at least 60 wounds to his body. Acknowledging how horrific the video was, Horrigan urged residents to protest peacefully. “I fully support the right of our residents to assemble peacefully,” the mayor said at the press conference. “But I hope the community can agree that violence and destruction is not the answer.” Since Walker’s June 27 slaying, the eight Akron police officers involved have been placed on leave and the city has canceled its Fourth of July holiday. Protesters have surrounded city buildings, demanding justice and the release of body camera footage. Attorneys for the Walker family said they were pleased with how police presented the videos Sunday, insisting he was portrayed as a villain in their descriptions of the video. Bobby DiCello, the lead attorney representing the family, said Mylett was an “armchair strategist,” using “snapshots in time” as he selected the material. “They want to turn him into a masked monster with a gun,” DiCello said. His colleague Ken Abbarno echoed that sentiment, urging police to be more transparent with what happened during the pursuit of Walker. “Officers should be held accountable for every action they took,” Abbarno said. “We live in a society where we can never see that again.” DiCello said he died after being shot nearly 100 times, and they asked police to take witness statements from the officers involved in the shooting. The officers are not named. “The Walker family is praying for peace, asking for peace, praying for accountability,” Abbarno said after the video was released Sunday afternoon. “We can’t badmouth Jayland.” “We’re done dying like this,” said another attorney, Paige White. “No one should have the same fate as Jayland Walker.”
