The names of the eight Akron police officers who killed Jayland Walker have not been made public yet, but they can be found in state records about the shooting.
Most of the papers released by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office had the names blacked out. However, the names were visible on slides shown at the attorney general’s press conference on Monday and in records that were part of the large investigation file.
After a special grand jury in Summit County Common Pleas Court said “no bill,” which means the officers won’t be charged with a crime, the Attorney General’s Office released information about the investigation on Monday afternoon.
Steve Irwin, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said that his office published hundreds of case files within hours of the grand jury’s ruling “so the public could see the investigation.”
“We are always looking at how we do things to make the process go more smoothly,” he said.
A video of the attorney general’s press conference was taken down from Facebook, and at least two records with officer names were taken down from the Attorney General’s website.
The Akron Chief Says, “They Didn’t Sign Up for This”
This week, Akron Chief Steve Mylett said again that he won’t give out the names of the officers because he worries about their safety and there have been threats against police.
In an interview with the Beacon Journal on Tuesday, Mylett said, “I have a duty to make sure my employees are safe.” “They deserve to feel safe. Just like you and everyone else, so does their family. They never agreed to do that.”
The tweet below shows officers throwing pepper spray at the group of rioters:
Not long after Walker was shot, the FBI told the police force that Akron officers had been threatened with death.
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Messages of Threat Were Sent to the Homes of Police Officers
Mylett also mentioned a new threat that was sent to the homes of at least four Akron police officers in the past week.
Photos of Mylett and Walker were sent to Clay Cozart, the head of the Akron FOP. At the top of the message, it said, “We expect the grand to vote in favor of the 8.” We have no interest in down. Before the end of the year, 16 blue badges will have to pay like Mr. W. Semper fi.”
Similar messages were sent to three other officers, one of whom was gone and two of whom were still working. One of the messages had a picture of the retired cop who got it.
A spokeswoman for the Akron police, Lt. Michael Miller, said that the department is looking into the threats and trying to figure out who sent them.
He said, “It has our full attention.”
Cozart said that the message makes it sound like 16 Akron police officers will die this year like Walker. He said that not only the cops but also their families should be worried about this.
Cozart said, “You can’t be with your family all the time.” “You must get to work. That’s what worries us the most.”
Cozart said he doesn’t know how the person who sent the messages decided which cops to target.
A police report was made by the retired cop who lives in Cuyahoga Falls.
Chief Jack Davis of Cuyahoga Falls said that his office is working with Akron to look into the case. He said that the fact that the messages were sent to officers’ houses made them even scarier.
“It’s clear that it’s very upsetting,” he said. “You know you got into a public job. You like to think that your house is still your house.”
The Ohio Supreme Court Agrees to Hear the Case
In November, the Beacon Journal went to the Ohio Supreme Court to sue the city for not releasing the names of the cops. Wednesday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case and gave each side a certain amount of time to file written papers.
Editor of the Akron Beacon Journal Michael Shearer said that editors will keep deciding whether or not to print the names.
“As we said months ago, we asked for the names of the officers so we could look into their pasts and see if they had ever used force in ways that might worry the community,” he said. “We’ll be able to start that process more fully now.”
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