Jayland Walker’s death at hands of 8 police officers propels social justice movement in Ohio city

A year after officers gunned down the 25-year-old man, residents of Akron, Ohio work through anger, grief and distrust to launch police oversight and cohesive community initiatives.

In Akron, Ohio, the phrase, “Say his Name,” has one answer — Jayland Walker.

Here, his name has become synonymous with change, whether it’s at the police department, City Hall, or on the ground, where community groups have become more resolute after Walker’s death.

June 27 marks the one year anniversary of Walker’s death in a hail of police bullets. That evening, Akron police say, the sound of a gunshot came from a vehicle they were chasing and they believed Walker had fired at them. Walker, wearing a ski mask, left the slowly moving car and ran. Police say Walker made a move toward them. The eight officers at the scene fired 94 bullets, striking Walker 46 times, killing him.

Authorities did not find a weapon on Walker, but they did find his legally obtained gun in his car.

“Every moment of every day, we think of Jayland,” his mother, Pamela Walker, said in a statement to theGrio. “Our hearts continue to break as we hope he’s going to walk through my door on a Sunday afternoon like he always did. Jayland would spend the day with us. We would laugh and talk about what was new in his world and enjoy a meal together. I will be forever changed by this. As a retired nurse, to know the way he was shot with no less than 45 bullets piercing his body is just incomprehensible.

The intervening 12 months haven’t soothed his mother or eased Jada Walker’s pain of losing a brother. Time has not healed the anger about the official state report that hints Jayland wanted to die at the hands of police, commonly known as suicide by cop.

But the last year has brought hope, even optimism, that Akron has embarked on the start of a meaningful social justice movement that goes beyond police reform.

Last November, voters approved, with 62% of the vote, Issue 10, which created a  Citizen’s Police Oversight Board charged with making non-binding recommendations on police policies and practices. Community groups have seized on that momentum, forming coalitions to address a myriad of social issues, including systematic and institutional racism and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Walker’s death has “definitely sparked a movement,” said Jennifer Ross, the Vice President, Diversity, Education & Engagement for the Akron Urban League. “I think folks are aware that there are some deep-rooted issues that are beyond just policing and go across every type of system that we have here.”

Community activist and attorney Imokhai Okolo said a rainbow coalition of people has joined to press for social change. “It’s been beautiful,” he said, “We’re seeing people across racial, religious, and economic lines coming together to be active in this fight.”

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy.

‘When we think we’re doing good,” Robert DeJournett of Akron said, “here comes another blow from out of nowhere.”

A rift among allies

Last October, Akron police met with DeJournett at about 3 p.m. one afternoon to deliver news that stunned  DeJournette, one of Jayland’s cousins instrumental in acting as a conduit to the grieving Walker family.

Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett planned to issue a news release in a matter of hours announcing the reinstatement of the eight officers who shot and killed Walker. The department needed the officers, who would be placed on desk duty, to alleviate a staffing shortage, Mylett explained at a community meeting last October.

DeJournett seethed.

“They wanted me to tell Miss Walker before it became public, and that just blew me away,” said DeJournett, pastor at Akron’s St. Ashworth Temple Church of God in Christ… “I know how fragile she is and know how this has impacted her and every part of her life, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I’m like, ‘How am I gonna tell her this and just wreck her world in a few hours?”

When he broke the news, “She was devastated. I was trying to figure out the right words to soften the blow,” DeJournett said, “but there were no words. She just fell apart.”

The decision led to a rift between pastors on Mylett’s advisory councils and local clergy who were not part of the advisory groups who publicly and harshly criticized the reinstatement decision.

DeJournett said police officials told him two advisory groups that included local pastors supported the officers’ reinstatement, but he said he later found out that wasn’t the case. That’s when the war of words began.

Some 43 people, including 40 pastors, signed a strongly worded letter that said Mylett lied when he said he would consult with the Walker family and DeJournett before he made a reinstatement decision. The letter called Mylett dishonest and said,  “Reinstating Jayland’s alleged killers is traumatic enough, but you have also falsified your conversations with our respected spiritual and community leaders.”

Mylett fired back with a statement of his own, saying he was disappointed and confused. He noted most of the people who signed the letter objecting to the reinstatements weren’t part of his advisory boards’ discussions.

“Having my integrity called into question by people I know and trust is beyond hurtful,” the statement said. “While I believe it is every citizen’s right to air their grievances with their elected and appointed officials, to do so in a way that includes dishonesty is irresponsible and harmful.”

The Akron Police Department did not return repeated phone calls or emails seeking comment.

The events of the last year — Walker’s death, the police reinstatements, no charges in the case — have resulted in 12 months of trauma for DeJournett, a long-time community leader who has served on a number of boards and been honored for his leadership. He sees a therapist to help him understand  emotions ranging from angst to despair.

“There’s been a lot of pain, disgruntlement,  anger, frustration,” he said. “I’m not losing faith in God, but losing faith in people, especially leaders in our community who I’ve walked alongside for a huge part of my career. Now, I’m seeing folk for who they really are and not who they pretend to be.”

“Absolutely disrespectful”

Mylett asked the state to examine the shooting that killed Walker.

That led to more angst for the Walker family and their supporters when the  Ohio Bureau of Investigation report probed whether Walker wanted to die by suicide by cop.

Walker’s fiancee’, Jaymeisha Beasley, died in a tragic car accident one month before his death, and by all accounts, he was mourning her loss but getting on with his life.

The report’s  227-page prosecutor’s summary, released on January 21,  paints a different picture. Akron police said they received a report from a Euclid, Ohio, police official who said Walker’s friend, Dupri Whatley, mentioned that Walker had “suicidal thoughts,” and he wanted information on how he “could get police to shoot him.”

Whatley, according to the report, works as a jailer at the Summitt County Sheriff’s Office. The report said Whately made the comments during an interview for a police officer’s job in Euclid, a city on the banks of Lake Erie about 45 miles north of Akron.

The account made its way through at least three people — the Euclid officer, who told an Akron PD sergeant, who then told Cory Momchilov, the special agent who authored the report.

In an interview with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Whatley vehemently denied Walker ever asked him about getting the police to shoot him.  “He never asked me about that,” Whatley said.

Neither Momchilov nor Whatley could be reached.

The report also includes information about Jayland’s cellphone and financial records, autopsy report and internet searches that the report states include “the quickest way to die.”

Moreover, Momchilov asked Pam and Jada Walker if Jayland had made any comments about being upset or suicidal and they both replied, “No.”

Suggesting Jayland wanted to be killed, “is scraping the bottom of the barrel,” Bobby DiCello said. “For the city or for the investigators or for anyone, frankly, to go down the road of Jayland may have wanted to die is absolutely disrespectful.”

DeJournett added, “That narrative just tries to detract from the accountability that officers could unload on somebody 90-plus times without any repercussions.”

Just about three months after the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation report, a grand jury investigating Walker’s shooting returned a no-bill, meaning there was insufficient evidence to indict the officers involved in Walker’s death. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Walker fired a shot from his car and called the police response a justifiable use of force.

The Walker family and associates see nothing justified about the shooting. They ask, “Why shoot a man who didn’t possess a gun at the time of the police response? Why fire nearly 100 times? Why not release the grand jury transcripts? Why not release the names of the eight officers involved?”(Akron police have refused to do so, citing threats made against the officers. The Akron Beacon Journal sued the police department last year asking the Ohio Supreme Court to release the officers’ personnel records).

“There has to be some accountability when folk are wrong,” DeJournett said. “They were wrong. They said they thought he had a weapon, but he didn’t. Still, there’s no accountability for shooting that many times. It sends the wrong message. It’s like, OK, so now you’re free.”

The process isn’t over. Akron Police have launched an internal investigation to determine whether the officers involved broke any department rules.  That probe, launched after the grand jury completed its work, could be completed in 60 days.

And U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) wants the Department of Justice to investigate the “patterns and practices of the Akron Police Department.” In a letter dated April 24, 2023, Sykes wrote the department’s “use of force, opposition to transparency, and actions taken against citizens exercising their Constitutional right to protest suggest a culture unconducive to public safety.”

Akron police came under heavy criticism for their actions during community protests that followed Walker’s death. During one gathering, police fired a “chemical irritant” into a crowd of demonstrators and arrested 50 people after the gathering turned violent and damaged businesses and residents. Police have also made arrests at a number of different protests.

‘Grassroots folks are energized’

All of these actions — the protests, what organizers see as an unjust police response, the failure to indict — have motivated Akron residents.

“There’s a lot of energy in the community that I think city leadership underestimates,” DiCello said. “Grassroots folk are energized by the passing of Issue 10. But also, they’ve been energized in a positive way, by the refusal of the grand jury to indict, because they now know it’s up to them to make change. The prosecution of a given police officer isn’t going to be the starting point. It’s going to be what they do, and they’re taking that very seriously.”

Okolo, the Akron attorney and local activist, said groups “have recognized the power of community. The power of bringing folks together across racial lines, across economic lines to really fight for the justice that is deserved.”

City Council members denied Okolo a seat on the police oversight board because of a social media post in which he called police “pigs.” He couldn’t get the nine council votes he needed. His exclusion angered a segment of the population that wanted a young (he’s 27), strong, Black voice unafraid to challenge traditional power structures.

Okolo said then that  keeping him off the board was “unfortunate, disappointing, unjust.” However, in hindsight, he said he doesn’t think he would have been as effective on a board that can only make recommendations. He said that he believes keeping him off has backfired and served as a rallying point for Akron’s burgeoning social justice movement.

Kemp Boyd, the chairman of the citizen’s review board, knows his group has a long road ahead. It has staunch community support, given the number of voters who approved its creation. Now, it has to build an infrastructure from the ground up that can foster confidence in Akron’s citizens, the police department, and City Hall.

“We have a daunting task ahead of us,” Boyd said. “There has to be some patience because we’re learning things as we go as an oversight board because there’s never been one.”

He also noted the board has a tricky balancing act. It will act as an advocate for the community while ensuring a fair hearing for all sides and making recommendations based on the evidence.

DeJournett said he’s cautiously optimistic about Akron’s future. “My hope is that everyone on that committee will hold true to their charge and do what’s right,” he said.

‘Dignity of my son’

On June 16, Jada Walker, as the administrator of her brother’s estate, filed a lawsuit against several entities, including the officers who shot Jayland, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. The 32-page civil lawsuit alleges officers used excessive force as part of a “culture of violence and racism at the City of Akron’s Police Department.”

The lawsuit seeks $45 million in damages or about $1 million for every bullet that struck Jayland Walker.

Jayland’s mother, Pam Walker, attended the press conference but didn’t speak. But DiCello said she told him:  “This is not about the money, this is about this never happening again. This is about the dignity of my son.”

At one point during the press conference, DiCello pointed to a large photo of Jayland and said  “Look at his face, this beautiful face and his beautiful life. We’re reminded that this is Father’s Day weekend, and that’s a day he’ll never share with a child.”

During his remarks, Pam Walker buried her head in her hand and wept.

On June 27, the one-year anniversary of Walker’s death, the  Freedom BLOC, an Akron group that advocates for Black political power, will hold a march in Washington, D.C., to demand justice for Jayland.

DeJournett has an idea of what justice looks like.

“I really would like to see some accountability for those officers,” he said. “I would like to see the whole system revamped on police chases and systemic changes that would prevent this from happening again.”

He added, “No one deserves to be treated like Jayland was treated. No one needs to have to suffer like Pam and Jada are suffering after losing a wonderful young man.”

DiCello sees an opportunity for the Walker family “to talk with the city and to be aligned with transforming the city. Not forgetting or apologizing, or in any way, moving away from their position that they need justice, they need accountability, but rather embracing the challenge that the city can change. And this family wants to be present for that and support that change.”

That change is already underway, with grassroots efforts and the citizens review board. Change is also coming to City Hall as the current mayor, Dan Horrigan, announced in early October that he wouldn’t seek a third term. He said to local media, “The reasons are my own.”

None of these changes will cure the family’s grief.

“Jayland’s essential human value was destroyed. For no reason,” DiCello said. “There was no reason for him to die.”

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