The teenager shot to death by an Akron police officer on Thanksgiving was laid to rest Friday.
Family members held a celebration of life for 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker at Remedy Church in Akron. Tucker was buried following the services, according to the family's legal team.
Tucker was a “kind, loving, funny kid,” his mother, Ashley Green, said during a news conference last week.
"Jazmir was a great kid. He was still a baby," she said.
Two Akron officers approached Tucker after working on a report from a previous call in their parked police cruiser at East Avenue and Vernon Odom Boulevard around 11 p.m., according to the initial police report.
They heard gunshots and got out of their car to investigate, according to the release.
Body camera footage of the incident does not shed much light on the moments leading up to the shooting because the officers did not activate their body-worn cameras. Their cameras were automatically activated when another cruiser arrived at the scene, city officials said.
The footage does not show the altercation between officers and Tucker before shots were fired, and there is no audio until after that fact.
Officers recovered a loaded gun from Tucker’s zipped jacket.
“To lose someone in an officer involved shooting is truly heartbreaking – especially someone so young,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik wrote in a news release last week. “Jazmir Tucker was beloved by many people, and my heart is with his family, friends, and classmates as they deal with this terrible loss.”
In the weeks since the shooting, Akron community members and leaders have raised concerns, including calling for the officer who shot Tucker to be immediately terminated.
Malik has not fired the officer, and city officials declined to release his name.
"We have an obligation to make sure that folks are safe from harm," Malik said during a news conference last week.
However, Malik himself has raised several questions, including why the officers did not turn on their cameras and waited more than seven minutes to administer aid to Tucker after he was shot.
The state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation is looking into the shooting.
