15 July 2022
A Black man killed by police in a hail of bullets in the United States late last month was shot 46 times, the local medical examiner has said after a preliminary autopsy, as calls for accountability for the killing of Jayland Walker mount.
In a news conference on Friday morning, Dr Lisa Kohler, the Summit County, Ohio medical examiner, said Walker died as a result of blood loss caused by his internal injuries. She counted 41 entry wounds and five wounds from bullets that grazed him.
“We are not able to say which bullet killed him. He had several very devastating injuries,” Kohler told reporters.
Walker’s killing in Akron, Ohio, a city of approximately 200,000 residents in the US Midwest, set off protests and renewed demands for an end to deadly police violence against Black people across the country.
The 25-year-old was killed on June 27 after Akron police officers tried to pull him over for a minor traffic violation and he fled.
After a chase of several minutes, Walker jumped out of the car and ran from the officers, a video released by police showed. Police said it appears he was turning toward officers, who at the time believed he was armed. A gun was later recovered from his car, they said.
Ken Abbarno, a lawyer representing Walker’s family, said the medical examiner’s findings confirm the fact that Walker, who was unarmed, “came to a brutal, senseless death”.
Source: AlJazeera
