Jason Walker case: Over 70 days after his shooting death in Fayetteville, what's the latest?

More than two months after the shooting death of a Black father in Fayetteville at the hands of an off-duty Cumberland County deputy, the demand for justice in his death has not stopped.

Demonstrators, who first began rallying for Jason Walker on Jan. 9, still continue to hold protests as the community waits for the release of new details in the case.

Walker, 37, was shot in front of his Bingham Drive home by off-duty Cumberland County Sheriff's Lt. Jeffrey Hash on Jan. 8. The Fayetteville Police Department reported that Hash said he shot Walker after Walker ran into traffic and jumped on Hash's truck, breaking the windshield.

The shooting further ignited people in the city still mourning the death of another Black Fayetteville father and veteran, Stephen Addison, 32, who was shot and killed by a white driver in a road rage incident a week earlier. In that case, the shooter was arrested.

Initial coverage: Police: Off-duty deputy shot, killed Fayetteville man on Bingham Drive; video appears to show aftermath

Previous coverage: Fayetteville police, DA say outside agencies to investigate shooting death of Fayetteville man

The probe into Walker's killing was turned over by the Police Department to the State Bureau of Investigation. The Cumberland County District Attorney's Office has turned over any potential prosecution in the matter to the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys.

Once completed, the SBI will send its investigation report to the Conference of District Attorneys for review, according to a press release.

No information about the case had been released by the SBI as of Sunday.

The tenacity of protesters

At the start of the Justice for Jason Walker protests in early January, more than 50 people gathered in front of the Cumberland County Courthouse, which is beside the County Sheriff’s Office, to begin marches in downtown Fayetteville. The crowd along Hay Street grew to more than 100 people.

For weeks, the momentum of the peaceful protests garnered attention on social media and from national news outlets such as CNN and USA Today. The case was also noticed by high-powered civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, who agreed to represent the Walker family in their fight.

Related: Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump calls for justice, saying 'Jason Walker matters'

Crump was the attorney for the families of other unarmed Black men and women killed by law enforcement officers including Trayvon Martin — a Florida teen shot to death by a Neighborhood Watch captain in 2012; Breonna Taylor — a Louisville woman killed by police serving a no-knock search warrant on March 13, 2020; and George Floyd, whose suffocation death beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, was captured on cellphone video and broadcast to the world. Former Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd’s death and was sentenced to 22 1/2 years. Three other former officers are still facing charges of aiding and abetting.

Crump visited Fayetteville on Jan. 14 to hold a rally for the family and made promises to get justice.

The buzz around the Walker case has since quieted some, but that hasn't stopped the tenacity of the city’s activist community.

Shaun McMillan, a Fayetteville activist who has been protesting Walker's death every day since Jan. 8, said he expected to see the number of participants dwindle.

"That's how it always is," McMillan said. "People still show their support, they haven't forgotten, but we know when it comes down to it, there's only going to be a small group of activists."

McMillan said he looked at other similar protests, like the ones for the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year old Black man who was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop April 11, 2021, in Minnesota, and noticed only a few people continued demonstrations as time went on. In the Wright case, Potter was found guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison.

Most days, fewer than five people meet in person in front of the Fayetteville Market House to protest. Thursday marked day 68 of demonstrations.

On Thursday, McMillan stood with Chilleko Hurst and Kathy Greggs, all members of Fayetteville PACT, and Rhonda Shirley, a classmate of Walker, and Emma Rainoff, a local activist, for more than an hour reciting chants and holding signs.

Some drivers circling the Market House who saw the protest blew their horns in support, throwing fists out the window. One man stopped to ask what was going on.

"I think when there's a decision made on arrest ... there's going to be a response," McMillan said. "I think a lot of people are waiting to see what Kimberly Spahos does. We've flooded her inbox. Right now, she has like 180 letters in her inbox."

McMillan's organization is asking for signatures to send a letter to Spahos, the director of the Conference of District Attorneys, to ask her to prosecute Hash.

Neither the SBI nor the Conference of District Attorneys responded to requests for comment. McMillan said they have not gotten responses, either.

"It's been 68 days," McMillan said. "Even 38 days ago, we thought it was too long and we're demanding answers."

Shirley, who said she makes it out to protests when she can, said that even though more people don't participate every day, they are still doing what they can to show support by sharing posts on social media about the case.

"It doesn't matter if you come out here once, twice or three times, or even just send a simple message ... that's all that matters," Shirley said.

There is also strong support for Walker's family. Recently, Walker's son, Christian, turned 15, and activists in the city took him to dinner and gifted him almost $300 to help him celebrate, Shirley said.

There are also efforts to get a recreation center in Walker's neighborhood named in his honor, Shirley said.

“The most rewarding part of it all is just to see the community come together, to see the continuous fight,” said Myah Warren, who has been active in the demonstrations for Walker.

Warren said she thinks the community's commitment to bringing justice is strong and that she doesn't believe local law enforcement has been handling the case as well as they could, even after it was turned over to the SBI.

“It’s disappointing that certain things and certain people are still lacking,” Warren said. “The sheriff himself has filed to run again to be our sheriff, but he’s failed to give us transparency, he’s failed to provide any information that we are sure that he has in his capability to disburse that information, but he has not.”

Warren is one of the activists calling for the arrest of Hash for the shooting of Walker and demanding Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright lead those efforts.

The sheriff said in a statement on Jan.10 that Hash was placed on administrative leave. Some people feel the consequence is not enough for Walker’s death.

As of Wednesday, Hash was still on paid leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The steps in getting justice

Five days after Walker was shot, a Cumberland County judge granted a request from Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins for the release of three videos that officers made at the scene. The videos are body camera recordings of three witnesses.

Hawkins also filed a follow-up request on Jan. 14 to make public all the videos her officers took at the scene. The judge has yet to sign off on the release of the additional videos, said Police Sgt. Jeremy Glass.

Body cam videos: Jason Walker case: NC has limits on when one may legally use deadly force in self-defense

Request for Justice Department support: Fayetteville City Council vote to request Justice Department support in Jason Walker's death

After the Walker case was turned over to SBI, City Council members requested the involvement of the Department of Justice to determine if Walker's civil rights were violated.

Council members asked City Manager Doug Hewett to draft a letter asking U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Michael Easley, for their assistance. The letter was sent Jan. 12.

Hewett told the Observer he has not received a response to the letter

Some demonstrators recognize local attempts to be transparent, but they want to see concrete changes so cases like Walkers are not repeated.

Mario Benavente, a Fayetteville activist, said protesting the deaths of people killed by law enforcement officers is just one step to getting justice.

"The general population of Fayetteville is waiting," Benavente said. "We can only do so much ... to bring about justice in this case because a lot of it right now is in the hands of state prosecutors."

People are waiting for new details so they can take the next steps to demand justice, Benavente said.

"We haven't gotten that extra bit of wood to keep the fire burning as brightly as it was before," he said.

For Benavente and others still protesting, it all comes down to new laws. “We’ve got to turn elevating an issue into policy change,” he said.

He said he has been pushing for the establishment of a civilian review board in Fayetteville that will ensure law enforcement officers are held accountable when they mistreat or kill someone.

“It’s so hit or miss with whether the Police Department will hold their own folks accountable,” Benavente said. “We need to take that power outside of their hands and give it back to the people. We want to make sure that miscarriage of justice doesn’t happen again.”

Benavente said that the Fayetteville community can’t expect basic justice, like the arrest of Hash, because of the way internal investigations in local law enforcement are set up.

“What we see is a law enforcement officer who used the privilege of his office to benefit from that privilege when he was not arrested, when he was not disarmed, really basic things that officers who arrived on the scene ought to be held accountable for,” Benavente said.

Hawkins said Hash was taken to the Police Department after the shooting and that her office was in possession of the gun used to shoot Walker before turning the case over to SBI. She could not answer, however, what type of gun it was or how many times Walker was shot. Walker's autopsy has not yet been released.

Benavente said that in 2012 there was an attempt by the City Council to send a request to the state General Assembly to establish a citizen's review board.

"I want to see that come back," Benavente said. "I would love to see something like a Jason Walker Act that helps us hold police accountable when they don't arrest or disarm a suspect."

Video of the aftermath of Walker's killing shows Hash speaking with officers at the scene, his weapon holstered on his hip. The fact that Hash was not immediately disarmed at the scene has angered many.

Continuing the fight

Warren said that despite the lower turnout to the Walker demonstrations, the work of the few who continue to regularly protest is vital.

"We may not always have the numbers that people believe we should have to be out there demonstrating," she said. "But someone has to do it."

With the repeated failures to convict law enforcement officers who have shot and killed unarmed people around the country, it is easy to lose faith, Warren said.

Still, there have been some milestones in the fight for justice, such as the recent convictions for the murders of Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year old Black man who was murdered in what a jury found to be a racially-motivated hate crime while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood. Three men were convicted in his death.

"I have hope because of George Floyd. I look at cases like Breonna Taylor and it can kind of rock me in my hopefulness, but I'm going to hold on to George Floyd. That's what I want people to remember about this," Warren said.

The officers who shot Taylor were not charged in her death.

"I'm hopeful (Hash) will be held accountable for his actions and that some type of justice to be served," Warren said.

Investigative Reporter Kristen Johnson can be reached at kjohnson1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville protest over the death of Jason Walker still on-going