Grand jury declines to indict officers in Walker shooting

A grand jury has declined to indict eight Akron, Ohio, police officers who shot 25-year-old Jayland Walker last year. The Akron police department said it is starting an internal investigation into his death. Investigators say Walker fired a gun from inside his car after a traffic stop. He then got out of his car wearing a ski mask and ran from officers. At first, police tried to use Tasers, but shot him when he appeared to reach for a weapon in his waistband. Walker had left his gun in the car. Akron police released narrated body camera footage of the traffic chase and gunfire.

Who was Walker? Walker’s family says his fiancée had died a month before his death, but he was not considering suicide. Though authorities say they found searches in his online history like “drinking bleach” and “quickest ways to die,” Walker had no previous criminal history, and his family said he had never fired a gun until he went to a shooting range with a friend shortly before he died.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Charissa Koh’s article in Compassion on police reform at the local level.