Bodycam footage has revealed the shocking moment a 15-year-old boy was shot by an Ohio police officer as he walked down the street holding a toy gun.
Tavion Koonce-Williams, 15, was walking home on April 1 when a dog walker called 911 and reported him for “pointing a gun at people’s houses.”
Akron Police Officer Ryan Westlake found him and yelled, “Can I see your hands real quick?” and then fired as he got out of his patrol car.
He hit Koonce-Williams on the hand and the boy began yelling “it’s fake, it’s fake” before he fell to the ground bleeding and tearfully told officers: “I’m a good kid, I get A’s in school, I play football “.
Koonce-Williams was taken to the hospital with non-threatening injuries, while Westlake, who has a history of use-of-force incidents, was placed on leave while the shooting is investigated.
The boy’s lawyer, Imokhai Okolo, told ABC: ‘[He] He is now dealing with the trauma of being profiled and having his life flash before his eyes after being shot.
Tavion Koonce-Williams, 15, was walking home with a toy gun on April 1 when a dog walker called 911.
Akron Police Officer Ryan Westlake found him and yelled, “Can I see your hands real quick?” and then he fired a shot
Koonce-Williams dropped the toy and fell to the ground, tearfully telling officers: “I’m a good kid, I got an A in school, I play football.”
Koonce-Williams told officers she was walking home from her cousin’s funeral while her grandmother was living on the street.
At 7:04 p.m., a dog walker called 911 to report a “black man” with “shorter dreadlocks” who was holding a gun “a little bigger than a gun” and “acting like he was going to shoot people.” their houses”.
Seven minutes later, Officer Westlake found Koonce-Williams and approached him.
Body camera footage shows the officer calling out to him, “Can I see your hands real quick?” and then he shoots as he gets out of the car.
The boy then screams and drops the toy gun on the ground as the officer says, ‘oh shit, oh shit, gunshots, gunshots,’ as the boy yells, “it’s fake, it’s fake.”
The boy then lies on the ground with his hands behind his back, bleeding profusely from his right hand.
Officer Westlake places handcuffs on his wrists, over the gunshot wounds, before another officer tells him to take them off.
Koonce-Williams begins to say, ‘it’s fake, please brother, it’s a fake gun, I was afraid,’ as another officer puts a tourniquet on his arm.
The boy screams in pain and cries as the officer who applies the tourniquet tells him ‘you’re going to be okay.’
The boy says: ‘I just came home, I came from my cousin’s funeral and everything.’
He starts sobbing and says, “I’m 15, I got excellent grades in school, I play soccer, my cousin just died” and then adds, “I can’t feel my hand.”
Koonce-Williams told officers he was walking home from his cousin’s funeral at the time.
He told the officers “it’s fake, please brother, it’s a fake gun, I was scared” as he lay on the ground.
Officer Westlake placed handcuffs on his wrists over the gunshot wounds before another officer told him to take them off.
Officer Westlake has worked for the force for nine years, but was fired in 2021 for several policy violations and later rehired.
The boy’s lawyer, Okolo, said: ‘[He] It is no different from countless young people in this city who carry a toy. At no time was the gun pointed at anyone’s home, at any individual, and certainly at no member of the Akron Police Department.
‘Tavion was shot on the inside of the wrist, clearly indicating that he had his hands up when he was shot.
“Tavion now finds himself in the lineage of young black men profiled and shot by the Akron Police Department without any justification or respect for human life.”
After the incident, the officer was identified by the city of Akron as Ryan Westlake.
Westlake has worked for the force for nine years, but was fired in 2021 for several policy violations and was later rehired.
The city said, “The officer’s record includes a number of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents, one of which has been deemed unreasonable.” Additionally, the city anticipates having more information to release in the coming weeks.
Police told the ABC: “The officer stopped his marked police car to investigate.” When the officer began to get out of his patrol car. He quickly issued a verbal command for the man to show his hands.
“Seconds later, the officer fired his firearm once striking the man in the hand after observing the subject with what appeared to be a gun in his hand.”