Officer involved in Jayland Walker shooting previously shot at a suspect in downtown Akron

One of the eight Akron police officers who shot and killed Jayland Walker had previously fired a gun at a suspect after a shooting downtown but missed, records provided Thursday show.

The same officer also was the subject of eight citizen complaints, ranging from racial bias and a lack of courtesy to wrongful arrest and excessive force.

The city determined that each of the complaints was unfounded or unsubstantiated, records show.

Three other officers who shot Walker had a combined four complaints against them and none of them was substantiated either, records show.

It's unclear what's behind any of the complaints or when they were filed because the city redacted the names of the officers involved and any information that could potentially identify them.

The city provided the records in an e-mail to the Beacon Journal's lawyer Thursday afternoon about an hour after the newspaper published a story online explaining that the records were initially left out of a response to public records request last week, and then delayed by seven days.

It is still unclear why the city excluded these documents when initially responding to a public records request filed earlier this month, or what led to a delay in their release this week.

Jayland Walker shooting: Here's what personnel files tell us about 8 Akron officers who fired shots

In the past, the city has included such information when the newspaper requested personnel files of officers involved in fatal shootings, including as recently as June, when the city provided documents connected to the Akron officers who shot and killed James Gross in Kenmore on Dec. 23.

What's in the records?

The records show one of the officers involved in Walker's shooting was one of two Akron police who fired their weapons during a downtown shooting that happened in recent years when Kenneth Ball served as police chief.

The dates and precise location of the incident is blacked out, but the Summit County Prosecutor's office, which reviewed the case, determined that the officers were acting within their authority and that the use of deadly force in the case was justified.

According to the prosecutor's letter, the incident unfolded like this: The two officers responded to a shots fired called. The shooter was reportedly wearing a green hoodie.

When officers arrived, they saw cars speeding away from the incident and heard gunfire and saw muzzle flashes. The officers, the records said, both fired at the suspect but missed as he ran behind a building with what officers thought was an AK-47.

The officers later apprehended the suspect as he tried to get into a car. The suspect wasn't hit, but bullets hit at least two other people in cars at the scene, city records show.

"The facts in this situation are undisputed," the prosecutor's analysis of the officer-involved shooting said. "Officers observed a man with a gun opening fire in a public area in downtown Akron...(and) engaged their service weapons in an effort to stop him from harming others."

Separately, the records provided no other details about citizen complaints, other than the general category of the complaint and its disposition.

The officer involved in the downtown shooting had eight citizen complaints for excessive use of force, arrest without cause, "officers actions within the law," false statements, racial bias, another tagged "other" and two for courtesy dealing with the public.

Of the three other officers who fired at Jayland Walker:

• One had two complaints — arrest without cause and excessive use of force — both of which were determined to be unfounded.

• A third officer had a complaint tagged "other," that was withdrawn, records show.

• A fourth officer also had a complaint tagged "other," that was adjudicated in court. Details about the court case were not provided.

What was the confusion over the records?

The Beacon Journal  — which has engaged its attorney in recent months to obtain public records that the city previously denied — initially believed the city provided all of its records on the officers involved in Walker's shooting.

It only discovered on July 21, the day after publishing a story based on records the city did provide, that the records were incomplete.

An assistant director of law that day sent an email to the newspaper's lawyer saying some "assumptions" made in the story based on the records were wrong.

She said the city had only provided records about the officers from the city's human resources department and not the police department. Human resources records only contain records of use of force — like gunfire — if the officer faces formal disciplinary action. But "personnel records would not contain records about each use of force ever made by an officer."

APD reports: Officer accounts detail handling of crime scene, evidence and pursuit of Jayland Walker

Similarly, the attorney said, "citizen complaints against officers are not maintained in the officer’s personnel files unless the complaint results in a formal disciplinary action."

How did the Beacon Journal respond?

In response, the Beacon Journal updated its online story and requested the police department documents that were excluded so it could clarify its reporting as quickly as possible. After days of waiting, the newspaper gave the city an 8 a.m. July 28 deadline to provide the records, which passed without the documents being delivered.

Earlier Thursday, before the documents were released, Beacon Journal Editor Michael Shearer said "prior public records released on Akron officers have included a discharge of firearms report when applicable."

"The absence of such documents in the records received last week led our journalists to make a reasonable conclusion. We can’t understand why the city has since notified us of one such use of force and now failed to deliver a report to us for nearly a week."

Akron police reforms: Where the city stands on implementing recommendations

The push over the documents underscores the Beacon Journal's ongoing efforts to help the community have a better understanding of how its government works and to paint a fuller picture of Walker's shooting, what lead to it and the people involved, Shearer said.

At a press conference on July 3, for example, Akron released a summary report showing none of the officers had been involved in a fatal shooting, disciplined or the subject of a substantiated complaint.

While true, that document glosses over other details, like one of the officers previously firing a weapon and a citizen complaint that didn't result in discipline.

The newspaper also is contesting the city's decision to withhold the names of 12 officers involved in fatal shootings since December.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron officer in Jayland Walker shooting previously shot at a suspect