Anonymous flyers, social media claim to name 8 Akron officers in Jayland Walker shooting
Names purportedly belonging to the eight Akron officers in the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker first appeared over the weekend on flyers stapled to telephone poles in West Akron.
The chief of police will neither confirm nor deny them as accurate. But they’ve since appeared on an anonymous website. Activists are circulating the list on social media. And on Monday evening during a public comment period, a person using a nickname read them into City Council’s official record.
As a matter of policy, the Beacon Journal does not normally name uncharged suspects. The eight officers are currently under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for their use of deadly force, but they have not been charged. That decision will rest with a Summit County grand jury at the end of the state investigation, which could take months.
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Capt. Dave Laughlin with the Akron Police Department said Chief Steve Mylett is not commenting on the public disclosure of the alleged names, which were released by an anonymous source less than three weeks after the chief took the eight officers off paid leave and reassigned them to desk duty.
In detailing his controversial reinstatement decision, Mylett said the FBI is still investigating two threats made against officers in the wake of the June 27 killing of Walker, who was unarmed and fleeing on foot when shot 46 times after leading officers on a crosstown car chase in which police say the 25-year-old Black man fired a single round from his car.
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"Up to this point, they have not been identified,” Mylett briefed the media on Oct. 11. “So, the public knowing exactly who was involved in the shooting, I don’t think that information’s gotten out. And, so, we’re going to be taking precautions to ensure their safety.”
Mylett called the officers back to perform administrative work to help with a staffing shortage. While the Bureau of Criminal Investigation continues its external review in the deadly use of force, the Akron Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards and Accountability (or internal affairs) has not completed its review of the officers’ conduct and whether any procedure was violated in the Walker incident.
The police chief, in speaking with the media last month, doubled down on safety as the reason for not releasing the names of the eight officers. He spoke again about two threats forwarded by the FBI and believed to be credible.
“These threats, they were just two months ago,” the chief said. “And I’m not going to be releasing names. I’m not going to put these officers in any further danger than they’ve already been placed in. There may come a time when the names are released, after an investigation by BCI and the work of the grand jury, but until then, I have a duty and a responsibility not only to keep the public safe but my employees.”
Clay Cozart, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7, which represents sworn officers in Akron, did not pick up the phone but texted what he called a "general statement."
"I do not react to internet rumors by anarchists and hate mongerers (sic) who call police pigs and murderers and who make false allegations that is refuted and when called out threaten councilman to meet them in a dark alley," Cozart wrote.
The Rev. Robert DeJournett, the Walker family’s pastor at St. Ashworth Temple Church of God in Christ in West Akron, referred the Beacon Journal to the family’s legal counsel, DiCello Levitt.
"We are aware that the purported names of the eight Akron police officers involved in this summer’s shooting death of Jayland Walker are circulating online and in the Akron community," attorneys Bobby DiCello and Kenneth Abbarno said in an emailed statement. "At this point we have not verified the accuracy of this information and are not able to comment further at this time. We ask that the community continue to keep the Walker family in their thoughts."
Who released the Akron police officer names?
In releasing the names on a WordPress website, an anonymous activist or a group of activists say "47 pieces of information from the personnel files of the officers involved in the killing of Jayland Walker" were matched "with publicly available information sources" to produce the "eight names of individuals employed by the Akron Police Department."
The city has redacted the names and all information it considers identifiable from the personnel files it has released to the public, including to the Beacon Journal.
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The anonymous website provides a link to a nine-page report detailing the evidence used to identify each of the eight officers, while putting the onus of confirming the names on the city.
"While this report lays out likely matches to the identities of the eight involved officers, it is ultimately up to Akron officials to be transparent and hold officers accountable," the anonymous website post reads.
An anonymous researcher for a local activist group said he and colleagues were "shocked" to see the names released online. Several organizations have requested and received the officers' personnel files, including the Beacon Journal, various media outlets and others. The Beacon Journal has reported on but not released those records to the public.
At the request of the Beacon Journal, the city's law department is compiling a full listing of every person or entity that's requested personnel files for officers involved in the Walker shooting. Only one request, the city said, has used the eight names that now appear online when seeking more information. That request, however, was made using an encrypted email designed to conceal the identity of its sender. And it was made Sept. 14, nearly a month before the officers were brought back on desk duty.
A message sent to that encrypted email Tuesday was not returned.
Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron police officer names in Jayland Walker shooting released
