AKRON, Ohio — Andrew Walls, who is accused of hitting multiple women after using a racial slur in an incident that was captured on video over the weekend, has turned himself into police, Akron Police have confirmed to 3News.
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Akron Police had actively been searching for Walls, who is from Kent, since Sunday after a viral video showed him calling a woman the N-word before attacking her. Police determined that Walls, who has been publicly associated with the Proud Boys in the past, proceeded to hit a second woman and have filed two assault charges against him, as well as a charge of using weapons while intoxicated.
Captain David Laughlin of the Akron Police Department told 3News Brandon Simmons that Akron PD is working with a representative from the FBI, which will determine if Walls is charged with a hate crime.
The victim shown in the video, 23-year-old Cameron Morgan, went to the hospital with a busted lip and a concussion as a result of the incident. She told 3News that she was out with friends on Saturday night in Highland Square when she came across a man who was calling people the N-word.
She says she tried to get him to stop, but then he sucker-punched her.
3News spoke to the father of Walls on Sunday night and he declined to comment. In an unusual coincidence, the suspect's mom was the victim's 10th grade math teacher, but Walls and Morgan didn't know each other before the attack.
National and local organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Akron chapter of the NAACP, are calling on federal law enforcement to press full charges agaisnt Walls for committing a hate crime.
"Violence against women, first of all, was cowardly. Period. Violence in this case is a hate crime, period. We cannot accept it, we won't accept it. It cannot keep going on like this," said Judi Hill, President of the Akron NAACP. "We have to let people know that this isn't acceptable, not just in Akron, but anywhere."
Akron Police Chief Steve Mylett released the following statement after Walls turned himself in: “I am deeply concerned with, what clearly appears to be, a racially motivated assault in our City this past weekend. When the victim reported this incident, our officers mobilized to identify and apprehend the suspect. A short while ago, the suspect, 26-year-old Andrew Carlson Walls, was taken into custody by APD detectives. The Akron Police Department has reached out to the FBI to determine if this assault rises to a federal hate crime. Hate has no place in our beloved city. We will use every resource at our disposal to bring anyone who engages in racially motivated or bias based crimes to justice. We stand united with the victim of this heinous assault and her family to ensure justice is served.”