AKRON, Ohio — All eyes are on the City of Akron and anyone with ears can no doubt hear the demands for justice and calls for accountability.
“It’s unacceptable that the police are not seeing any repercussions for terrorizing the community,” said one protester.
A special grand jury investigation into the deadly Akron police shooting of Jayland Walker could conclude any day now, and his family including Shalesa Beasley, aren’t optimistic.
“It for sure didn’t take eight of them to shoot him, they wouldn’t have done that to a wild animal, they over killed him,” said Beasley. “I’m not confident that they will [the involved officers be indicted], but I hope so.”
The dozens of demonstrators who spent the evening protesting in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood said they aren’t hopeful either.
“We need to stand united,” said one protester. “We’re out here today to show that it’s not just one person or one group or one race. We are here because we are the community and we need to stand united to show that this is unacceptable.”
Friday evening demonstrators initially started protesting on the sidewalk near Market Street and Highland Avenue, but about an hour into the protest group blocked off Market Street and then eventually started marching throughout the neighborhood remaining peaceful.
RELATED: Downtown Akron businesses bracing for unrest as grand jury reviews Jayland Walker case
The group also marched just blocks away from The City of Joy Life Enrichment Center where Bishop Mayceo Smith is the pastor.
“I’m praying for our city, I really do love our city,” said Smith. “Growing up here, born and raised here, raised my family here, my church is here and that was a difficult situation for us to watch but we definitely want justice in whatever that looks like.”
Bishop Smith said he’s also praying and urging for peace in the days to come, and Friday evening the group remained peaceful.
“We would hate to see violence take place and then innocent people get hurt,” said Smith. “We’re already upset about what happened to Jayland but we don’t want any other lives to be lost. We want to make sure we are peaceful with the police as well because they have to go home too and they have families too.”
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