How Akron can move forward after a mass shooting

AKRON, Ohio — 'This street code is still relevant': Akron community grapples with deadly shooting as police search for suspects

As the investigation into Sunday's shooting in East Akron continues, community leaders are trying to determine how to move forward.

“What happened is a very sad incident,” said Judi Hill, president of the Akron NAACP. “Violence is not going to go away. It is part of the fabric of the world, but can we change it? Can we change 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 still feels the trauma of eight police officers who killed Jayland Walker during the summer of 2022. The officers fired more than 90 times, hitting Walker with more than 40 police bullets. An investigation later revealed that Walker, a black man, fired a gun from his car during a police chase. However, he was unarmed at the time of his death.

“Yes, it's going to impact this community's trust in law enforcement,” Hill said. “If you don't read the newspaper, if you don't follow everything the NAACP or the Freedom BLOC is doing or what the ministers are doing, you're following the code of the street.”

But, she said, there is hope.

“If we had lived through Jayland Walker and that summer, we could live through this.”

Former Ward 5 councilwoman Tara Mosley Weems, who lives near where the shooting happened, is urging people to speak out.

“Don’t wait until it affects you to say something,” she told 3News, “because it affects us as a whole 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 Summit County Crime Stoppers at (330) 434-2677.