AKRON, Ohio — 'That street code is still real': Akron community grapples with fatal mass shooting as police search for suspects
As the investigation into Sunday’s mass shooting in East Akron continues, community leaders are trying to figure out how to move forward.
"What happened was a sad, sad incident," Akron NAACP President Judi Hill says. "Violence is not going to go away. It is a part of the fabric of the world, but can we change it? Can we change the attitudes? I believe we can."
There is a known distrust of law enforcement in Akron's Black neighborhoods.
"That street code is still real," Hill adds.
The former educator says Akron is still feeling the trauma of eight officers fatally shooting Jayland Walker in the summer of 2022. Officers shot 90-plus times, hitting Walker with more than 40 police bullets. An investigation later found that Walker, a Black man, fired a weapon out of his car during a police chase. However, he was not armed at the time of his death.
"Yeah, that's going to impact the trust of this community with law enforcement," Hill explained. "If you don't read the newspaper, if you don't keep track of all the things that the NAACP or Freedom BLOC or what the ministers are doing, you go by the code of the street."
But, she says, there’s hope.
"If we lived through Jayland Walker and that summer, we can live through this."
Former Ward 5 Councilwoman Tara Mosley Weems, who resides near where the shooting occurred, is urging people to speak up.
"Don't wait until it affects you to say something," she told 3News, "because this affects us as an entire community."
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Akron Police Department Detective Bureau at (330) 375-2490 or the APD tip line at (330) 375-2Tip. Information can also be submitted to the Summit County Crime Stoppers at (330) 434-2677.