Videos posted this Sunday Akron Police (Ohio, USA) They show how eight officers shot dozens of times to kill the African-American Jayland Walker, who had started running to escape a traffic control.
The death of Walker, in whose body 60 gunshot wounds were found, has sparked strong protests in the city of Akron.
At a press conference this Sunday, Akron Police Chief Stephen Mylett described the images as “shocking” and “hard to watch”.
As he explained, the agents tried to stop the vehicle in which Walker was traveling at 12:30 a.m. Monday for a traffic violation and, when he did not stop, they began to chase him.
At one point in the chase, Walker allegedly fired a shot from his vehicle, something the deceased’s family disputes.
Shortly followingward, Walker came out of his vehicle and began to run towards a parking lot while the policemen chased him and were shooting as they believed he posed a “deadly threat” to his life, according to a statement the Akron Police Department released Tuesday.
Walker, 25, was later pronounced dead in the car park to which he had fled.
Family attorney Bobby DiCello has called on protesters to remain calm and on Friday spoke to the local Akron Beacon Journal to give details of the “brutal” videos released today in an attempt to prepare the community.
Some of the videos that the Police showed in their press conference came from the cameras that the agents wear on their uniforms.
The eight officers involved in the incident were suspended of their duties while the incident is being investigated.
Residents of Akron have taken to the streets in recent days to demonstrate peacefully and ask the police to account for Walker’s death.
The mayor of the city, Dan Horrigan, canceled US Independence Day festivities, which is celebrated tomorrow July 4th.
Walker’s death is added to that of other African Americans at the hands of the Police, such as George Floyd, suffocated by a white police officer in Minneapolis (Minnesota) in May 2020.
His death caused the greatest Protests once morest racism since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in the late 1960s.
