Akron police shooting echoes Tamir Rice death
CLEVELAND — Ten years have passed since her son died of a police shooting in Cleveland, and Samaria Rice wondered Tuesday whether anything has changed.
Rice became angry after learning of the April 1 shooting of Tavion Koonce-Williams, who was wounded in the hand when an Akron officer pulled up, yelled to see Tavion’s hands and quickly fired at him, as the youth had a toy gun in his hand.
“The young man complied,” Rice said. “The officer didn’t really have to shoot him. This is ridiculous. We have to fight back against the policies and procedures of policing. Thank God he didn’t kill the young man.
Tamir Rice was 12 when a Cleveland police officer shot him Nov. 22, 2014, at the Cudell Recreation Center on the city’s West Side. The incident pushed Cleveland to the national forefront of police reform. The city later paid Tamir’s family a $6 million settlement.
For years, Samaria Rice pushed local and federal officials to investigate the officers involved in her son’s death and explain why he died. On Tuesday, she and other activists in Akron demanded answers from Akron police.
Rice and others cited the fact that Ohio is an opencarry state, and the Akron officer, Ryan Westlake, should have been aware of that, even if the boy was carrying a fake gun.
“When do police start following the law?” Rice said. “The officer was wrong. We’re in the state of Ohio. This is an open carry state, the proper thing would have been to ask the young man, does he have a permit?”
Westlake fired one shot at Tavion shortly after 7 p.m. April 1, as the youth was walking down the street. A woman had called 911 and said a Black youth was pointing a gun at houses in the area.
Body-worn video shows Westlake, a nine-year veteran of the department, stopped his vehicle, opened the door to his cruiser and fired his weapon once within seconds of approaching the teenager.
“Hey, where are you coming from? Can I see your hands real quick?” Westlake shouted. He then shot the teenager.
“Oh (expletive),” the officer said afterward.
In the video, the fake gun is seen in the grass in front of Tavion, who has his hands up while yelling, “It’s fake.”
Judi Hill, president of the Akron chapter of the NAACP, said the shooting is an example of how Black people are more likely to be shot by police.
“What does it mean to be an open carry state? Just walk up on somebody and just shoot them because they have a weapon in their hand?” she said.
Hill said the shooting was disturbing, especially following the fatal police shooting of Jayland Walker that put Akron in the national spotlight and at the forefront of discussions on police brutality.
She said she thought it was “interesting” that the city identified Westlake as the officer responsible for the shooting, but Akron officials have not identified the eight officers who shot Jayland Walker in 2022.
The Akron NAACP, with Black elected officials and other activists, hosted a community forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the Akron department, specifically the city’s search for a new police chief after Mayor Shammas Malik decided to hire internally, shrinking its candidacy pool to two people.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Akron police union said Westlake acted within policy and procedure, and according to his training.
“There is always concern when an officer is faced with the incredibly challenging decision to defend himself and others against an armed suspect,” the statement said. “Ultimately it ends up being traumatic for both the officer and the suspect. Fortunately, this instance resulted in only non-life-threatening injuries.”
Rice’s son was different. She struggled as officials sought to explain the incident. The officer who shot Tamir, Timothy Loehmann, and his partner, Frank Garmback, were never charged. Loehmann was later fired because of an unrelated issue on his application. Rice hopes to have an event later this year commemorating her son’s death.
Rice and Hill both said Westlake should be fired and not able to return to policing, given his record prior to the shooting.
Westlake was fired from the department in 2021 for a number of incidents including using a homophobic slur and drunkenly pointing his gun at his girlfriend. He rejoined the department in October 2021 after 99 days of unpaid administrative leave. The city said they could not say why his firing was rescinded.
Rice said she wishes there was more oversight on police departments and academies across the country.
She also said her heart hurts for the Koonce-Williams family. She wanted to remind them to keep their heads up and get a good lawyer, “because they have a case.”
‘We have to fight back against the policies and procedures of policing. Thank God he didn’t kill the young man.’