Disturbing Viral Video Shows Troubled Ohio Cop Shooting Black Teen Playing With a Fake Gun, and His Family Demands Answers
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Ohio teenager Tavion Koonce-Williams is lucky to be alive.
He was allegedly pointing a very real-looking toy gun at houses as he walked through Akron’s Goodyear Heights neighborhood on April 1. Police officer Ryan Westlake responded to a call shot and wounded the 15-year-old boy with seemingly little warning.
Officials released the disturbing video one week after the incident.
Even after shooting Koonce-Williams, the Akron police department, still reeling from controversy in the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker, decided to charge him with a crime. Meanwhile, the officer who shot him is on paid administrative leave while an investigation is ongoing.
Authorities charged Koonce-Williams with carrying a Facsimile firearm, a first-degree misdemeanor, WKYC-TV reports.
Imokhai Okolo, the attorney representing Koonce-Williams family, accused the city of using the justice system to “weaponize criminal charges against Black youth in an attempt to avoid civil liability.”
Body camera footage shows Westlake approaching the teen in a patrol car and ordering him to show his hands. Almost immediately, a gunshot is heard.
The bullet strikes the teen in the hand. He repeatedly shouts, “It’s fake! It’s fake!” as he goes to the ground.
Okolo released this statement:
“The actions taken by the City of Akron and the Akron Police Department are Unconscionable. It is not a crime to have a toy gun. It is not a crime to be a 15-year-old playing with toys. It is not a crime to be a Black kid in Akron Ohio doing what kids do. Too often we see this city using their law department to weaponize criminal charges against Black youth in an attempt to avoid civil liability and shield themselves from political backlash. It’s disgusting, unethical, and wrong. Our community deserves better.”
Koonce-Williams mother, Angel Williams, accused the police of using excessive force and demanded accountability. “We are sick and tired of watching our babies die in the hands of people who took an oath to protect and serve,” she said, according to WEWS-TV.
Okolo wants charges filed against Westlake and a federal investigation of the police department. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation launched a probe into the shooting of Tavion and will turn over its findings to the Ohio Attorney General’s office.
Westlake’s personnel file shows that he was fired in July 2021 for policy violations, including pointing a gun at his girlfriend while he was intoxicated. He was reinstated a day later and given a 71-day suspension, per WEWS-TV.
The Akron Police Department was in the national spotlight when mass demonstrations erupted in the city over the police killing of Walker, a 25-year-old Black motorist on June 27, 2022.
Eight officers fired 94 shots in about 6.7 seconds at Walker, hitting him 46 times. An internal probe cleared the officers after a special grand jury declined to charge them.
