Jayland Walker was shot or grazed by a bullet 46 times in Akron police shooting, medical examiner says
AKRON, Ohio – Jayland Walker, who was killed by Akron police last month, had 46 gunshot wounds or graze injuries on his body, according to a "summary of findings" from the autopsy released by Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler on Friday.
Walker, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police on June 27. Walker’s funeral on Wednesday followed two weeks of protests and unrest in downtown Akron as demonstrators demand justice and accountability for the eight officers involved in his death.
In a news conference Friday morning, Kohler said there were more than 46 labeled wounds on Walker’s body. There were 46 gunshot entrance wounds or graze injuries, which are on the surface of the skin.
There were an additional 15 exit wounds. A bullet may enter the body and not exit the body, she said.
The autopsy count of wounds is different from the number of shots fired, Kohler said.
“We are not able to say which bullet killed him. He had several devastating injuries that could cause death," Kohler said.
Kohler said five bullets entered Walker’s body from the back, but that does not mean he was running away and that he could have twisted. Walker was handcuffed when his body was received at the medical examiner’s office.
A toxicology report came back negative for any evidence of drugs or alcohol in Walker, Kohler said. Twenty six bullets were recovered from Walker’s body, she added.
Kohler said Walker’s cause of death was due to blood loss. The manner was homicide, or shot by others, she said.
“Our ruling of homicide is a medical ruling, meaning death at the hands of another and is not a legal conclusion,” she said.
Greta Johnson, director of communications and the assistant chief of staff for Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's office, said it is possible one bullet could cause multiple entrance wounds on the body. A bullet can hit a limb before striking the torso, for example, meaning Walker may not have been shot 46 times, she said.
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No gunshot residue report completed
A report on gunshot residue was not completed as the FBI and the Medical Examiner’s office have both discontinued those tests in recent years, said Kohler.
"I understand that there have been questions raised regarding the performance of gunshot residue testing," Kohler said. "Although the technology utilized to demonstrate the presence or absence of gunshot residue is sound, there are many factors that contribute to false positive or false negative results.
A positive test does not indicate a person fired a weapon and a negative test does not mean the person tested did not fire a weapon or was not in the vicinity of a fired weapon, Kohler said. The FBI discontinued gunshot residue testing at its lab in 2006, she said.
Walker family attorney calls autopsy report 'devastating'
In an impromptu press conference in the health department parking lot after the county’s press conference, Ken Abbarno, one of the Walker family’s attorneys, called the autopsy findings “absolutely devastating.”
“This shows that Jayland, an unarmed man with no drugs or alcohol in his system came to a brutal and senseless death,” Abbarno said.
The medical examiner’s office allowed Walker’s representatives to review the autopsy information before the press conference.
The family and their attorneys need to sit down and process the information in the autopsy, Abbarno said. They want to try to match up the autopsy report with the officers’ body camera videos to determine Walker’s position as the bullets were fired, he said.
A reporter asked if the family knows why Walker didn’t surrender to police when he got out of his vehicle after the brief chase.
“I don’t have an answer to your question,” Abbarno responded.
Investigation to determine number of shots fired
The exact number of shots fired at Walker has not yet been determined. The medical examiner's report is separate from an investigation by the of Bureau of Criminal investigation, which will determine how many shots were fired, Kohler said.
The claim that Walker was shot by eight officers firing at least 60 times was first reported by WKYC citing an unnamed source on June 27 and has never been disputed by Akron police. The Beacon Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, was unable to confirm that report.
On July 1, Walker family attorney Bobby DiCello told the Beacon Journal his review of the police body camera video and his law firm's investigation supported the claim of Walker being shot at least 60 times.
What happened during the police shooting of Jayland Walker?
Police attempted to stop Walker June 27 for minor equipment violations. After a car and foot chase, Walker was shot by police, according to body camera footage released by the city this month. Video shows Walker exiting his moving vehicle in a ski mask and running toward a parking lot.
He was unarmed during the shooting, but officials said he fired a shot from his vehicle less than a minute into the chase. A weapon was recovered from Walker's vehicle.
His death sparked more calls for police perform and two weeks of protests in downtown Akron, which sometimes led to clashes between police and protesters.
Officials declared Wednesday a citywide day of mourning as hundreds of people attended his open-casket funeral. The family's decision to show Walker’s body reminded some of the choice by Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, in 1955 that helped galvanize the national civil rights movement.
The NAACP on Thursday asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a federal civil rights investigation into Walker's death. The agency previously said prosecutors from the civil rights division and the U.S. attorney’s office in Ohio, along with the FBI, were “closely monitoring and reviewing the circumstances surrounding” Walker’s death.
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Contributing: The Associated Press
