CLEVELAND — Cleveland Police Chief Annie Todd said in a statement that the off-duty officer involved in the fatal shooting of a man in Glenville has been placed on unpaid leave.
News 5 has learned the officer's identity. Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the Cleveland police officer is 22-year-old Myron Priest Jr.
He graduated from the police academy in December 2025.
What happened
Cleveland police responded to calls of shots fired at Park Place Apartments, located on the 1400 block of East Boulevard on Cleveland's East Side, around 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Authorities said a verbal argument "escalated into gunfire,” and a 22-year-old off-duty Cleveland police officer fatally shot a 26-year-old man in the parking lot of the Glenville apartment complex.
On Thursday, Cleveland police said in a statement they were "deeply concerned" by the circumstances surrounding the shooting, adding, "The off-duty officer does not appear to have been acting in an official law enforcement capacity.”
RELATED: Off-duty Cleveland police officer involved in deadly shooting in Glenville
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting. Deputies confirmed multiple individuals fired shots, but did not provide additional details.
Cleveland police are conducting an administrative review, Todd said in her video statement on Friday.
Body camera footage reveals aftermath of shooting
On Friday, Cleveland Police released four separate videos of body-worn camera footage, totaling less than five minutes.
Two officers appear on the scene first. One retrieves a first aid kit while the other begins rendering aid.
A witness tells the officer that Hammond had been shot twice, once in the back and once in the side.
"I'm gonna have to flip him over," the officer tells three people surrounding Hammond.
Once he's flipped over on his back, the officer identifies that Hammond is still breathing.
"Please save my brother! Please!" one woman screams in the background.
The officer then begins chest compressions.
"We got you. It's okay. It's okay. We got you," a witness tells Hammond.
Hammond is placed on a stretcher, then wheeled off with EMS, according to the footage News 5 was provided with.
In another clip of body camera footage, a man whose face has been redacted from the video runs over to an officer with a gun in his hand.
He says, "This is his gun. He got a switch on it and he tried to shoot me with it.
The officer asks him who tried to shoot him. The blurred individual points in the direction of Hammond.
It has not been confirmed whether the redacted person in the video is Priest Jr.
Friends want justice
Friends of the 26-year-old man killed in the shooting told News 5’s Scott Noll on Thursday that they want justice.
Stanley Martin said he received a call that his friend, Akili Hammond, got into an argument with a large group of people in the parking lot behind Park Place Apartments. Martin said he arrived and saw Hammond with a handgun at his side and a man in a ski mask holding a rifle.
“Once ‘Kili stepped forward, he came from the side of the car, and he shot ‘Kili,” said Martin. “Kili didn’t threaten him, (or) say, 'I’m going to blow y’all, kill y’all,' nothing like that. He didn’t pick his gun up. His gun stayed at his waist the whole time.”
Martin said he did not know the man with a rifle was an off-duty police officer.
RELATED: Friends of man killed in shooting with off-duty cop want justice
Police dispatch recordings revealed the incident was caught on camera by the city’s Real Time Crime Center.
“The male that’s currently laying in the middle of the street was walking up to the Black GMC armed with a gun,” a Real Time Crime Center employee said on the recording. “And he got shot by the driver of the GMC who was sitting in the driver’s side. Possible automatic weapon.”
Martin said that after his friend was shot, the off-duty police officer told him to run. Bullet holes traced the path he said he ran to safety as the shots whizzed past him.
Martin’s sister believes the entire incident began the night before when she fought another woman.
She said the officer was part of a group that came to the apartments looking for revenge.
“He was down here dressed in regular clothes, a ski mask, grey hoodie, like he was looking for a fight,” said Tai’ler Martin.
