Police killed Jayland Walker, a Black man in Ohio, by shooting him dozens of times as he ran from officers following a traffic stop, a lawyer for his family said, citing a review of police body-worn camera footage due to be made public on Sundays.
In comments published on Saturday by the Akron Beacon Journal, attorney Bobby DiCello described the video as “brutal,” and said Walker’s relatives worried that protests this weekend could turn violent.
The shooting was the latest in a spate of killings of Black men by law enforcement in the United States that critics say are unjustified, including the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that ignited global protests against police brutality and racial injustice.
“We’re all bracing for the community’s response, and the one message that we have is the family does not need any more violence,” DiCello said.
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Akron police have said Walker, 25, fired a gun at officers who were pursuing him. They plan to release their body camera footage following a news conference on Sunday, hours before a protest march is scheduled.
“Protest is a way of crying,” Rodderick Pounds Sr., pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Akron, said during a prayer rally there on Saturday after he was permitted to see the video prior to its being made public.
Pounds declined to describe in detail “the graphic video the world is about to see,” but