Disgusting footage shows Akron cops killing an unarmed Jayland Walker in a hail of bullets

Police in Akron, Ohio, have released heartbreaking bodycam footage showing the moment an unarmed 25-year-old black man was shot more than 60 times by officers.

“I will not mince my words, the video you are about to watch is heartbreaking,” Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said at a news conference on Sunday. “I urge all of our residents to use their best judgment until our investigation is complete.”

Body cam videos shown on Sunday began with officers chasing Jayland Walker in their squad car around 12:30am Monday after he refused to stop for an alleged traffic violation. Police said officers heard “the sound of a gunshot” coming from his car door about 40 seconds after he fled.

The chase continued for several minutes before Walker, wearing a ski mask, climbed out of his silver Buick through the passenger door and fled on foot. Police said police tried unsuccessfully to taser him and continued the pursuit to a nearby parking lot.

There, Walker “quickly turned to the pursing officers” and fired a volley of gunfire at him, police said. Disturbing body camera footage shows Walker quickly falling to the ground as gunshots rang out.

Police Chief Stephen Mylett confirmed on Sunday that Walker was “unarmed” when he was killed. Police found a handgun, a loaded magazine and a gold ring in the driver’s seat of his car.

Walker still had a pulse when officers tried to load him into the police car, Mylett added. He couldn’t say how many bullets were fired, but Walker had at least 60 wounds on his body.

Acknowledging how horrific the footage was, Horrigan urged residents to protest peacefully.

“I fully support our residents’ right to peaceful assembly,” the mayor said at the press conference. “But I hope the community can agree that violence and destruction is not the answer.”

Since Walker’s murder on June 27, the eight Akron police officers involved have been placed on furlough, and the city has canceled its Fourth of July celebrations. Protesters have surrounded city buildings, demanding justice and the release of body camera footage.

Attorneys for the Walker family said they were angry at the way police presented the videos on Sunday and insisted their descriptions of the footage portrayed him as a villain. Bobby DiCello, the family’s lead attorney, said Mylett was an “armchair quarterback” who used “snapshots in time” while dissecting the footage.

“They want to turn him into a masked monster with a gun,” DiCello said.

His colleague Ken Abbarno echoed that sentiment, urging police to be more transparent about what happened during Walker’s pursuit.

“Officials must be accountable for their every action,” Abbarno said. “We live in a society where we can never experience anything like this again.”

DiCello said he died after being shot nearly 100 times, and they are asking police to take testimony from officers involved in the shooting. The officials were not named.

“The Walker family prays for peace, they ask for peace, they pray for accountability,” Abbarno said after the footage was released Sunday afternoon. “We can’t disparage Jayland.”

“We’re done dying like this,” said another attorney, Paige White. “No one should ever suffer the fate that Jayland Walker suffered.”