Who was Jayland Walker? Family, friends knew man killed by Akron police as funny, loving

For many in the Akron community, Jayland Walker is known as the man who was fatally shot dozens of times last summer by eight police officers.

His death prompted widespread protests and led to increased demands for police reform, culminating with the passage by Akron voters in November of a charter amendment that created a citizens' police oversight board.

But to his family, friends and former teammates and coach, Walker is remembered as a quiet, funny and loving man — someone they say they never imagined would die in such a tragic way.

Walker, 25, was killed by Akron police following a car chase that began in the city's North Hill neighborhood early June 27 and ended in Firestone Park.

A special grand jury of six women and three men, including two Black citizens, returned a no-bill on Monday, April 17, in Summit County Common Pleas Court, which means the jurors found the actions of the officers were justified.

Grand jury decision: No criminal charges for the 8 Akron officers who fatally shot Jayland Walker

Live updates: Attorney General's office says 8 officers fired 94 shots at Jayland Walker in 6.7 seconds

In the days following his death and during his funeral, which drew 1,000 mourners at the Akron Civic Theatre, Walker's family and friends shared stories about him and provided some insight into his life.

Here's some of what they had to say.

Who was Jayland Walker? Cousin says 25-year-old 'had the biggest heart'

After Jayland Walker graduated from Buchtel high school, his family asked him about his plans for the future.

Walker, who had wrestled all his life, said he was thinking about going semipro, much to the thrill of his young cousins.

What would his wrestling name be? His family offered suggestions.

“Nah,” he told them. “I’m gonna be String Bean.”

“With Jayland, you didn’t always know if he was joking or not, so we kind of laughed it off,” Walker's cousin Robin Elerick said, chuckling as she shared this memory during Walker’s funeral service in July.

Elerick said Walker was her youngest cousin, so she remembers him being born and knew him his entire life. She said he “had the biggest heart” and was “so sweet and so authentically genuine."

Walker had worked for Amazon and then took a full-time job driving for DoorDash. It's unclear if he was working at the time of his death.

He had aspirations of starting his own delivery business, according to the Walker's family attorney, Bobby DiCello.

In the last few weeks of his life, Walker was going through a hard time after the death of his fiancée in a car crash, his cousin said.

Jaymeisha Beasley was struck by a hit-skip driver following a car crash in May 2022 on a highway outside Cincinnati. Walker was not with Beasley when she died.

Elerick recalled her and her cousin sitting quietly, holding hands, crying and exchanging many impromptu texts and phone calls.

“There were a lot of ‘I love yous’ back and forth,” she said.

'I'm never gonna forget him'

During the memorial service in July, Walker’s best friend, Dupri Whatley, also shared memories of growing up with Walker, including playing basketball and listening to music.

Whatley, a Summit County sheriff's deputy, said he would call Walker all the time for advice, saying he wouldn’t be where he is without Walker.

Whatley choked up several times as the audience encouraged him and cheered in support.

“He’s gonna live through me,” Whatley said. “I’m never gonna forget him.”

Coach recalls Walker as 'the sweetest, most mannerable kid I've ever had'

Robert Hubbard was Walker's wrestling coach for four years and knew him since he was a young wrestler on an area youth team.

“He wasn’t what they were describing on those news stories ... no, that’s not the kid I know,” Hubbard told the Beacon Journal in the days following Walker's death.

“I’ve been the coach at Buchtel since 2002. He’s one of the sweetest, most mannerable kids I’ve ever had," Hubbard said. "If you gave me a list of 100 kids that this would have happened to, he would have been 99th or 100th for me to guess.

"What they are describing is so out of character, which is why I understand why the family is asking for answers because that’s not Jayland Walker.

“He was a hard worker. Whatever I asked him to do, he would do,” Hubbard recalled. “I’d be surprised if he ever got a detention in school ... he just wasn’t one of those kids that misbehaved or anything — and I’ve had some of those kids that have tested me. Jayland Walker was not one of those kids.”

Walker was the City Series champ in his weight class of 160 pounds his senior year and made it through sectionals and was a district qualifier, said Hubbard.

Walker had a “phenomenal” double-leg takedown, an offensive move to get the opponent down on to the mat during wrestling, Hubbard said.

Hubbard last saw Walker in 2020 when Walker came to watch a wrestling match at Firestone High School. The coach took a photo with Walker and other wrestling alumni.

“I hadn’t seen him in a little while and to look at the picture, I’m thinking: ‘Could I have done something different? Did I give him the right guidance? Was there something else I could have done?’” Hubbard said, his voice choked with emotion.

“I’ve had different kids that have had successes and failures. I’ve been there a long time. I’ve had kids who have ended up on the wrong side of the law and then some actually serving the law,” Hubbard said. “I would have never thought this would be him. He was one of the sweetest kids I’ve ever coached.”

Hubbard said it “makes no sense” to him that Walker would lead police on a chase.

Hubbard said he has heard that Walker was having a rough time after his fiancée died in May in the car accident.

He also still was having a tough time coping with the death several years earlier of his dad, Pete Walker, Hubbard said.

Jayland Walker always had a smile, former assistant principal says

Norma James, who was an assistant principal at Buchtel from 2012 through 2015, then principal for one year before retiring from Akron Public Schools, said she remembers Walker for his politeness and his smile.

James said it was unusual for her to know the students who did not get in trouble because she was in charge of discipline. Walker never even had a tardy, she said.

"I used to see him every morning because he would smile at me," she said. "That smile, you were happy to see him because you knew there weren't any big problems anywhere he was."

'He was just a really funny guy': Former teammates remember Walker

George Johnson and Tyler Cox both remembered their former Buchtel high school wrestling teammate and friend as a funny, peaceful guy.

“He was just a really funny guy,” said Johnson. “I promise he could have been a comedian. I wanted him to be a comedian. That’s not what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a wrestler, like in the WWE (World Wresting Entertainment)."

Cox said he and Walker would often walk home from school and “have conversations about the future and what we had planned.”

Cox said Walker had signed up for a WWE camp after high school.

“I’m like, ‘Man, there’s no way I can see him being a bad guy in any type of way in that scenario (the WWE),’” Cox said.

Walker and Cox were on the cross-country, wrestling and baseball teams together.

In 2014, Walker played in the Summit County All-Star baseball game held at Canal Park. Cox said Walker played a few different positions, including third base and in the outfield.

In 2014, Walker and Cox were also City Series champs in their weight divisions for wrestling (Walker at 160 pounds and Cox at 126 pounds).

'He was a brother to me'

Cox said Walker, who was a year ahead of him in school, was more than a teammate.

“He was a brother to me,” Cox said. “The wrestling team, it was like we all just became family. It was an inseparable bond. We just have so many moments together and so many experiences together. It’s just so crazy now to kind of see that he’s not here with us.”

Johnson said he and other wrestling friends would hang out, go to each other’s houses and go to the trampoline park in high school.

Johnson said he and Walker were in contact for a few years after they graduated in 2014 and probably hadn’t talked since 2017.

Johnson, who now lives in Toledo and works for a painting company, said he is sad he hadn’t talked to Walker in recent years.

But Johnson said hearing that Walker may have shot a gun during the police chase before his shooting death doesn’t make sense.

“Jayland would never get into anything like that. He never got in trouble,” Johnson said.

Cox said Walker “was a fairly good kid. He didn’t have problems with anything. If anything, he was really the peacemaker out of everybody. He would try his best to stop situations from happening and try to make everybody happy.

“... I want people to know that Jayland was definitely not a violent person. He was the most sincere, most kindhearted person you could ever hope to meet,” Cox said. “I genuinely looked up to Jayland when I was younger. He was someone to look up to.”

Pastor: 'One must know who he was'

The Rev. Robert DeJournett gave Walker’s eulogy, which was just under 40 minutes.

He said they all “grew up there” at Akron’s St. Ashworth Temple, where he’s now the pastor, and called it “our family church.”

When Walker was young, he couldn’t pronounce DeJournett’s name. DeJournett’s family called him “Robert Earl” — his first and middle name — and Walker would call him “Robba Girl.”

DeJournett said Walker’s mother, Pam, and sister, Jada, described Walker as sweet, caring, thoughtful, humble, an all-around nice person who was raised in a good home and was an “undercover mama’s boy.”

They said he was loyal, “almost to a fault,” honest and well-rounded. Jada told DeJournett her brother was “one of a kind,” saying, “I don’t use those terms lightly” and that she only also describes her father and grandfather that way.

“We're here until the end," DeJournett said during the eulogy. "We're going to keep on pushing. We're going to keep on fighting. We're going to keep on lifting up our voices and in celebrating the life of Jayland Walker.

"One must know who he was."

Beacon Journal staff writers Betty Lin-Fisher, Stephanie Warsmith, Emily Mills, Doug Livingston and Jim Mackinnon contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Who is Jayland Walker? Akron community members share memories