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AKRON, Ohio — On Thursday, the Ohio Attorney General’s office released edited video interviews conducted with the eight Akron police officers who shot and killed Jayland Walker.
Interviews were conducted July 6-12, 2022 by agents of the Ohio Criminal Investigative Service. This was just days after Walker died on his June 27th.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Monday that a grand jury has decided not to bring state criminal charges against the eight officers. A jury ruled “no bill,” and Yost said he felt the officer’s use of lethal force against Walker was justified by state law. “There is no doubt that Jayland Walker actually shot the police officer,” Yost added.
According to Yost, the evidence collected by the BCI included over 100 interviews with each of the eight police officers who fired their weapons during the incident. It also includes evidence gleaned through multiple search warrants, subpoenas, body camera footage, dashcam video, surveillance video, police reports, and an autopsy of Walker’s body.
In the video interviews, the officers’ faces have been redacted and their names muted.You can see the full list of video interviews here.
One police officer tearfully told investigators, “I was terrified because my thinking was, if this guy (Walker) was stopping him because of the tail lights, he would shoot us.” What was he going to do to another man, if he was willing?
You can watch his interview below (quote available at 16:54)
Each executive interview had some common themes. They discussed why it was important for Walker to wear a ski mask. “It means they are committing some kind of criminal activity.”
All talked about how Walker’s movement toward the hip area after he stopped fleeing police led officers to believe he was about to open fire on them.
“I immediately feared for my life and my partner’s safety and well-being,” said one police officer. “He turned around. He was facing us. “And he had already shot the officer, so I believed he was going to shoot the officer again.”
Several officers said they had “tunnel vision” at the point they started firing at Walker. That’s when I started shooting I got that tunnel vision and I started shooting I didn’t even know he was standing in front of me (one of the other 7 APD officers It was to shoot people.”
A BCI study found that Walker was shot 94 times and was shot 46 times. Three of his eight police officers fired his 18 shots during the incident. When asked by a BCI agent if firing so many shots was overkill, one APD officer said, “I mean, they were trained to fire until the threat was gone. That’s exactly what I did. That’s what I did.”
“We fired our guns until the threat was neutralized,” another officer added. ”
There were personal stories shared by officers in the aftermath of the shooting, one described it as follows: I had nightmares, and thoughts of the incident kept repeating in my head. ”
You can watch his interview below (quote available at 26:37)
Another officer noticed that he resembled Walker. “We have similar facial features, which means I can look at him and see part of myself in him. It’s what I’m going to live for the rest of my life that I had to.
You can watch his interview below (quote available at 28:53)
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