The grand jury that will decide whether to indict the officers involved in the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker in Akron will continue next week.
In the meantime, dozens of people gathered in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood Friday night, calling for justice and for the officers who shot Walker to be arrested and charged.
The protest began at an intersection on West Market St. near the Highland Square branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Many protesters dressed in all black and wore face coverings. They held signs and flags and chanted calls for justice. Multiple drivers honked in support as they drove through the intersection.
One of the protesters was Shalesa Beasley, the mother of Walker’s late fiancée Jaymeisha Beasley. Beasley was killed in a car accident about a month before Walker’s death.
“It’s a nightmare. I’m still in it. I’m trying to wake up out of it,” Shalesa Beasley said.
Walker was a great person, she added.
“For him to be shot and killed by eight people – he [is] one person. It don’t take eight people to kill one person,” Beasley said. “They overkilled him. I just want it to make sense. I want them to all go to jail.”
Eight Akron Police officers fatally shot Walker after a car and foot chase in the early hours of June 27. Police say Walker fired a gun during the car pursuit but was unarmed when he was killed. Walker was wounded or grazed at least 46 times in the hail of bullets, according to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s office.
About an hour into the protest Friday, the crowd made its way into the street. Protesters marched down West Market Street and through some residential streets.
“Get out of your house and into the street,” one protester called through a megaphone.
Several residents came out onto their front porches and clapped or voiced their support as protesters marched down Beck Avenue.
The protesters eventually marched on Exchange Street and headed back to Highland Square where the demonstration began.
They stood in the intersection of W. Market Street and South Highland Avenue, blocking traffic. Several people in the line of cars waiting to turn left on Market Street got out of their cars and began shouting for protesters to move.
After a brief shouting match with protesters, they went back to their cars and vehicles turned around down the street one by one.
Protesters called on some of the patrons sitting outside at restaurants on the street, asking them to join in.
The demonstration wrapped up around 8:30 p.m. after a moment of silence for Walker. Organizers said they plan to mobilize “immediately” and demonstrate at various locations across the city when the grand jury decision comes next week.
