Akron Police Set to Release Footage of Black Man’s Shooting

The Midwestern U.S. city of Akron, Ohio, is bracing Sunday for residents’ reaction to the release of police body camera footage of the shooting of a young Black man.


Police attempted to stop 25-year-old Jayland Walker last week for a traffic and equipment violation.  They chased him briefly in his car and then Walker left his car and ran. According to reports, he was shot at least 60 times by the police.


Bobby DiCello, the attorney for Walker’s family told the Beacon Journal newspaper that the video is “brutal,” and Walker’s body was riddled with bullets.


The Rev. Roderick Pounds, a pastor at a local church, who has seen the video also told a group of protesters Friday that Walker’s body was “riddled from his face down to his knees.”


Walker’s shooting is one of the latest killings by police officers of Black men.


The killing of George Floyd, who was African American, by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, spurred global demonstrations.