AKRON, Ohio — Akron Police have released body camera footage from Nov. 11, where an officer made a "split-second decision" to shoot a man who allegedly had a gun on his person.
RELATED: Akron officers confront allegedly armed man, make 'split-second' decision, police union says
I spoke with a witness who requested we conceal their identity for fear of retaliation.
They were near the laundry mat in the same shopping plaza as the shooting that took place.
"I saw two guys come out of the bar. Actually, there were three, and they were going back and forth with each other. The guy that got shot, he sucker punched the other guy, he provoked it, and they got in a squabble out here," the witness told me.
The witness said the man then walked over to the laundry mat and asked to come in, to which they said no.
"He kept using his hands like he was threatening to shoot, and I said, 'You can shoot me, but you're not getting in.' I had customers out here, two women that I got inside, locked the door, called 911," they told me.
The witness said at no point did they see an actual gun brandished, though.
The man then walked to a sidewalk next to the shopping plaza, where he was later encountered by Akron Police.
Not only did the witness we talked to call 911, but so did a Karam's Lounge bartender who claimed to have seen the man with a gun.
"Please get somebody out here. He is in the parking lot with a gun," the bartender told an Akron 911 call taker. "It’s like a black 9-millimeter, it looks like. He aimed it through the window, and it didn’t shoot. I don’t know if he has the safety on, but we all ran."
An Akron officer finds the man on a sidewalk near Karam's Lounge.
The body camera footage is disturbing to watch and listen to.
As the officer approaches the man, he tells him, "Get your f***ing hands out of your pocket. Stop where you are. Get your f***ing hands out. Get your hands out. Get your hand out of your f***ing pocket. Get the f**ck on the ground right now. You’re going to get shot."
The man does put his hands up at one point.
Within seconds, the man continues to feel his pant legs and the front of his jacket.
"Get out of your pockets," the officer tells the man again.
The officer then pulls the trigger.
More than half a dozen shots ring out, and the man is struck by a bullet at least once.
Two Akron police officers then flip the man on his stomach and cuff him.
"Where's the gun at?," the officer who shot him asks.
"I never had a gun," the man responds.
Another minute passes before the man's gunshot wounds are looked at.
"Who has scissors? We need sheers. And we’re gonna need several chest seals," an Akron officer tells another.
Only one perspective of the shooting was provided to News 5, even though there were at least two other officers on scene.
The witness I talked to on Tuesday said that from watching the fight to hearing gunshots, the incident only lasted about 15 minutes.
The man is still in the hospital recovering, according to a family member of his.
I think the most important thing to remember is that [the man shot] is a person who exists outside of the events that happened that night. He is a son, a brother, a dedicated friend and coworker and the most important thing of all a father to 6 young children whom love him very much. The actions of that night could have left 6 kids without a father. Right now the primary focus should be on his recovery so he can remain stable and be able to heal from all of this. This was such a shock to all that know him and we just would ask that his privacy and his family’s privacy remain respected during the duration of the investigation.
In the midst of recovering, a big question now stands: Is this shooting warranted?
I asked a use of force expert off camera, who says it's hard to say as the visibility of the footage isn't clear.
Akron's Mayor sent the following statement responding to the shooting and the release of the footage.
Police officers do an extraordinarily difficult job. Every day, they are called into unpredictable, dangerous situations that require split second decisions. Our officers face circumstances, most of us, including myself, may never truly understand. In this case, an officer responded to multiple 911 calls about a man pointing a gun and threatening people. I want to be clear – I deeply respect our officers and the tremendous burden they carry to keep our community safe.
In this specific incident, BCI will investigate to determine whether the suspect had a gun prior to the officer involved shooting, but it is our current understanding that he did not have a gun on his person at the time he encountered our officers, even though callers reported he was armed. I recognize how difficult and confusing this could be for many in our community, and I feel the weight of those concerns.
This incident underscores why we are undertaking a comprehensive review of APD’s use-of-force policies, practices, and procedures. Even when actions may meet legal standards, we must always ask: What can we learn? What is the best way to approach challenging situations? How can we improve training, tactics and systems to help us achieve the safest possible outcomes? We owe it to both our officers and our residents to pursue national best practices and constantly strive to do better.
Any time someone is seriously injured in an encounter with police—even when responding to reports of a threat—it is a serious and sobering event for our city. We owe it to the community to understand what happened and to learn from it. We can't control every factor in volatile, high-risk situations. But we can control how we prepare our officers, how we train them, and how we equip them to de-escalate, make sound decisions under pressure and return home safely.
I fully support our Akron Police officers, and I have so much respect for the work they do in our community every single day, and I also believe that there is always room for improvement. Whenever we can do better, we have an obligation to do better. I believe we can support our officers and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards of safety and professionalism. Those goals are not in conflict. In fact, they strengthen one another.
As BCI conducts the investigation of this specific incident, the City of Akron will continue moving forward with its general use of force review. We look forward to reviewing a list of recommendations to achieve the best possible outcomes in future incidents.
While the officer involved is now on paid administrative leave and the state investigates, the witness we talked to said moving forward, it's business as usual.
"I dust myself off. I'm coming back. I mean, this neighborhood's not like that. It really isn't," they told me on Tuesday.
The witness said they're frustrated with the shooting because it seemed to be preventable.
"Why didn't he [the man shot] come out? He had every chance to leave [the bar]. He chose not to," the witness said.
The officer involved has approximately four years of police service, with the last year being on the Akron police force.
Once the Ohio Criminal Bureau of Investigation completes its review, the case will be turned over to the Ohio Attorney General's Office for review before being submitted to the Summit County Grand Jury for evaluation.
The entire investigation will be posted on the Ohio Attorney General's Office website upon final disposition.
A separate internal investigation will be conducted by the Akron Police Office of Professional Standards and Accountability.
The results will then be provided to the Chief of Police and the Independent Police Auditor.
