An autopsy report released on Friday revealed that Jayland Walker suffered dozens of gunshot wounds when Ohio police opened fire and killed him during a chase in which authorities said a weapon was fired from the suspect’s vehicle.
The 25-year-old black male refused to stop during a traffic stop over equipment violations and instead decided to flee, prompting a vehicle pursuit, according to the Akron Police Department. About 40 seconds into the chase, Walker allegedly fired a gunshot from his car.
At a press briefing early on Friday, Dr. Lisa Kohler, the medical examiner of Summit County, said Walker died as a result of blood loss caused by his internal injuries.
“The cause of death ruling was multiple gunshot wounds. The manner of death was ruled homicide,” Kohler said. “Our ruling of homicide is a medical ruling, meaning death at the hands of another and is not a legal conclusion.”
Kohler said it was impossible for her office to say which bullet killed Walker, who had several “very devastating” wounds. The office also failed to provide the exact number of shots that were fired.
“We have … the 46 entrance wounds. Some of those wounds are on extremities. I can’t say for certain whether wounds passed through an arm and then into the body or not. There is that possibility, so I can’t say anything different than we’ve got 46 entrance slash graze wounds,” the medical examiner said.
She counted 41 entry wounds—including to his heart, lungs and arteries—and five wounds from bullets that grazed him. He also had five wounds in his back, but it was impossible to say whether those came as he ran away or turned as he was being shot.
Additionally, Kohler noted that no illegal drugs or alcohol were detected in Walker’s body.
Video footage released by Akron police shows the moment leading up to the shooting incident.
Walker can be seen jumping out from the passenger side of his still-moving vehicle wearing a black bandit-style mask. Officers deployed their tasers in an attempt to stun the man, but these attempts were unsuccessful. The suspect then continued on foot into a nearby parking lot, where police opened fire after they felt threatened as Walker reportedly “quickly turned towards the officers,” making a threatening gesture.
Police chased Walker for about 10 seconds before officers fired from multiple directions, in a burst of shots that lasted 6 or 7 seconds.
An unloaded handgun, an ammunition clip, and what appeared to be a wedding band were found on the front driver’s seat of Walker’s car, authorities said, adding that he was unarmed at the time he was shot.
The eight officers directly involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave while the state investigates the incident. Seven of those officers are white, and one is black.
Police in neighboring New Franklin Township had tried to stop and then chased a car matching Walker’s for the same minor equipment violations less than 24 hours before the Akron chase. A supervisor there called off the pursuit when the car crossed the township’s border with Akron.
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan declared a state of emergency earlier this month as daily protests rocked the city after authorities released body camera footage related to the fatal police shooting.
On July 3, the protest turned violent; participants threw objects at the Harold K. Stubbs Justice Center, broke windows of snowplows parked by the city to block off the street, launched smoke bombs into the streets, and set fire to two dumpsters, Akron Beacon Journal reported.
“As night fell and others began to join, the protests became no longer peaceful,” Horrigan said in a July 4 statement. “There was significant property damage done to downtown Akron. Small businesses up and down Main St. have had their windows broken. We cannot and will not tolerate the destruction of property or violence.”
Downtown Akron has since been under a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., until further notice. The city also shut the Patterson Park Community Center and the Akron Fulton Airport.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
