WORLD NEWS | Ohio officials won’t be charged in shooting of Jayland Walker

AKRON, Ohio, April 18 (AP) Eight police officers who fired dozens of bullets at Gerald Walker, a 25-year-old black man, will face no criminal charges in the car and foot chase , as a grand jury rejected the Ohio attorney general’s announcement Monday to indict them.

Walker’s death sparked protests in Akron last June after police released body camera footage showing him killed by a hail of bullets.

Read also | Search continues for Indian climber Anurag Maloo who went missing on Annapurna in Nepal.

He refused to stop when they tried to pull him over for minor equipment and traffic violations, police said, but they did not elaborate further. Police said Walker fired a shot from his car 40 seconds after the pursuit.

Officers chased the car on highways and city streets until Walker jumped out of the still-moving vehicle, ignoring officers’ orders, and ran into the parking lot, wearing a ski mask, where Walker was fatally shot and with him. The camera video is displayed. Authorities said he represented a “deadly threat”. A handgun, a loaded magazine and a wedding ring were found in the driver’s seat of his car.

Read also | Sudan conflict: Ministry of Foreign Affairs sets up control room to provide information, assistance to Indians.

Yost said Walker fired at the officers at least once from his car and then, after jumping out of the car, he ignored orders to stop and put his hands up. “There is no doubt that he did shoot the police,” Yost said.

Yost said Walker reached for his belt and raised his hand as the police chased him. Yost said the officers didn’t know he had left the gun in the car and thought he was shooting at them again.

Yost said it’s important to remember that Walker fired at officers and that he “shot first.”

Walker’s family called it a brutal and senseless shooting of a man who was unarmed at the time and whose fiancée recently died. Police union officials said the officers believed there was an immediate threat of serious injury and acted in accordance with their training and protocols.

Police union officials said the officers believed there was an immediate threat of serious injury and acted in accordance with their training and protocols.

Blurred body camera footage did not clearly show what authorities said was a threatening gesture Walker made before he was shot. The police chased him for about 10 seconds, and then the police fired from multiple directions in a series of shots that lasted 6 or 7 seconds.

The eight officers, who did not want to be named, were initially furloughed, but they resumed administrative duties 3.5 months after the shooting.

A county coroner said Walker was shot at least 40 times. The autopsy also said no illicit drugs or alcohol were detected in his system.

Walker’s death received widespread attention from activists, including the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Attorneys for the NAACP and Walker’s family have called on the Justice Department to open a federal civil rights investigation.

President Joe Biden responded during a visit to Ohio last summer that the Justice Department was monitoring the case.

Less than 24 hours before the pursuit, police in the neighboring town of New Franklin attempted to stop a car that matched Walker, again for an unspecified minor equipment violation. When the car crossed the town’s border with Akron, a supervisor there called off the pursuit.

A family representative previously said Walker had been grieving the recent death of his fiancée, but the family had no other concerns. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)