What Akron City Council members said about the Jayland Walker fatal police shooting

In their first meeting since 25-year-old Jayland Walker was shot and killed by Akron police officers, Akron City Council convened virtually to discuss police reform and future action in the face of an enraged public.

Though several members have made statements on social media, this was council's first public appearance as a body since the death of Walker, who was shot at least 60 times after a car chase June 27 following a traffic violation. Council did not meet on July 4 due to the holiday.

The meeting was held virtually due to "threats" made to members of council, said Jeff Fusco, vice president and at-large councilman. While the elected officials dialed in to a Zoom call, action was occurring simultaneously outside City Hall. Protesters gathered outside the building, where council chambers are located, at 5:30 and later projected the 7 p.m. meeting on a screen.

Activists planned to flood the public comment session, but before they did, council members held a lengthy discussion expressing condolences for the Walker family and possible action items for police reform moving forward.

Their comments came during a resolution offered by Mayor Dan Horrigan, Council President Margo Sommerville and Fusco that acknowledged the tragedy, supported citizens' rights to protest peacefully and designated Wednesday, the day of Walker's funeral, as a day of citywide mourning.

Council discusses police reform in Akron after death of Jayland Walker

Ward 8's Shammas Malik opened the discussion, saying that while a jury will decide any criminal liability in the case of the eight officers involved in Walker's death, "from a moral perspective, I think what we've seen on the bodycam footage is not OK."

Malik went on to urge swift action, including implementing a civilian review board similar to ones Columbus and Cleveland. That board, he said, should be independent of city administration and the police department and have the power to oversee professional staff, such as the police auditor, investigate misconduct, levy discipline and proactively ensure policies are up to date and acceptable.

"We can do that here," he said. "We are sadly not immune to problems that other cities are facing in this regard. We are not above the solutions either."

Malik acknowledged Akron's recent initiatives, such as the establishment of the Reimaging Public Safety committee and the Racial Equity and Social Justice Task Force report, but said the city needs to do a better job in actually implementing those recommendations; something he's been critical of in previous months.

"I’ll speak plainly; there have been many recommendations around strengthening police oversight, and what’s been missing is a sense of urgency."

At-Large Councilwoman Linda Omobien said she was "deeply troubled" by what she's seen and heard about the case, noting there was "absolutely no reason" for Walker to be shot so many times for what began as a traffic violation.

"I never thought in Akron we would see this kind of activity," she said. "I will never understand how you execute pursuing someone for a traffic violation and firing 90 bullets. It doesn’t make sense. It never will."

She pressed Police Chief Steve Mylett to meet with the city's law department to immediately end certain practices, such as handcuffing a person after they're already dead and changing the way traffic violation pursuits are addressed. For example, she said, when Walker fled, they could have issued a warrant and served a ticket at a later time.

"It should never come to anything like this," she said.

'Show the same type of energy' for other gun violence victims, Akron councilman says

Ward 4's Russ Neal, who went to high school with Walker's father and uncle and knew him personally, expressed sorrow for his death, but questioned why there was only outrage in this specific case when many homicides by gun occur throughout the city.

"I understand this is horrific because it was at the hands of those who are here to serve," Neal said. "I hope I speak for council when we express our sincere condolences for those parents who have lost children and we did not speak out. We did not take a day of mourning."

Neal went on to criticize protesters for being selective in who they show up on the streets for, saying they need to have the "same type of energy and demand for change" for other gun violence victims.

"Where’s the anger about the killing that’s going on in our community that’s not done by APD?" he said. "I know there are others who are perplexed about why do we rise up when it’s just the blue but we’ve got this thing in our community we’ve got to deal with."

Neal has been a long-standing critic of the city's administration and law department, with whom he's frequently butted heads, and he is outspoken on what he says is council's inaction when it comes to police reform.

"We are complicit in the death of Jayland Walker by not handling our responsibilities properly," he told the Beacon Journal on Monday night after the meeting, citing previous measures and resolutions he had proposed in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.

"If we did that heavy lifting starting back (in 2020), if we would’ve started this conversation sooner, maybe, just maybe, folks would’ve looked at Jayland differently," he said.

Some Akron council members promote unity, defend APD

Following a more than hourlong public comment session with 21 people speaking negatively and emotionally about police policy and culture, brutality against protesters and more, Fusco spoke up to defend some of the city's recent actions, including a measure on the 2020 ballot to publicly provide footage from body-worn cameras and banning chokeholds.

"We have heard and seen the demands, however, as elected officials, we take an oath of office and it confines us on how quickly we can move on issues such as what we have seen here," Fusco said. "Certainly past legislation this council has taken up was from the people."

Fusco went on to defend members of the city's police force, saying that while it is obvious changes must be made, Akron residents should be grateful to the "men and women in uniform."

"I know that this may not go over well in some of the circles, obviously, but not all men and women in the Akron police force deserve to get painted with the same brush," he said. "A police officer deals with some of the most difficult individuals in our society at times. I know the majority of the men and women in the Akron Police Department signed up to become police officers for all the right reasons. Our police officers, our fathers, our mothers, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, white and Black, they work hard to protect us."

Ward 1's Nancy Holland doubled down on Fusco's comments, urging unity across the city.

"This is such a deep moment of reckoning and such a profound call for reform for work together, and I mean together," she said. "The idea that in this moment of deep pain that there can be so much shouting at everyone at a time when really the call should be, how can we work together to get this right?"

After her comments, the meeting was adjourned.

Reporter Abbey Marshall is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Learn more at reportforamerica.org. Contact her at at amarshall1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: What Akron City Council said about the Jayland Walker shooting