Walker’s family attorney, Bobby DiCello told the Akron Beacon Journal, “This is going to be a brutal video."
Officials in Akron, Ohio, released body camera footage on Sunday of the police-involved shooting death of Jayland Walker.
During a press conference Sunday afternoon, Mayor Dan Horrigan and Police Chief Steve Mylett shared the footage, while calling for peace after the city canceled its Independence Day celebrations as protests erupted in the city in response to the Black man’s death at the hands of police.
Of the footage, Walker’s family attorney, Bobby DiCello told the Akron Beacon Journal, “This is going to be a brutal video. It's going to stir up some passion. It's going to make people uneasy.”
The 25-year-old was killed in a barrage of bullets on June 27 in Akron’s Firestone Park neighborhood. Akron police tried pulling Walker over for a traffic violation, which started a short police chase. Cops say he then pulled out a gun and started shooting at them before he exited the car and ran off. DiCello said he has not seen any evidence supporting that claim or that Walker was fleeing police when they started shooting at him
During Sunday’s press briefing, Mylett said Walker was unarmed when he was gunned down, stating that the medical examiner found 60 wounds on Walker’s body.
“Based on the video, I anticipate that number to be high,” Mylett said. “A lot of rounds were fired,” Mylett said. He added that the number of shots fired by police has not been released.
DiCello estimates at least 90 shots were fired, according to the Journal.
“In my 22 years of doing trial work, both as a former prosecutor for Cuyahoga County and as a civil rights attorney on many serious cases of lethal use of force, I have never in my life seen anything like this, ever. It is very, very disturbing,” DiCello told the Journal.
Mylett added that officers did begin life saving efforts on Walker once the shooting stopped, but by that point, it was too late. Walker died at the scene. Authorities say the eight officers directly involved in the shooting are cooperating with the investigation and have been put on administrative leave.
Walker’s family, meanwhile, are calling for any demonstrations in Walker’s honor to be peaceful, saying that is what he would have wanted.
The Akron Police Department has asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations to lead the probe.
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