Jazmir Tucker, Age 15

Shot by Akron Police late on Thanksgiving Day, 2024

The latest update will always be at top and whtn there is another, the previous update goes at bottom below Introduction.

1/17/25: Jazmir’s autopsy shows he was shot twice in the back, but the bullets were fatal, but the officers who waited 8 minutes to help him didn’t know that, as they shouted put your hands to your side and things like “remember, he raised his hand” as if to remind fellow officers of his alibi for the shooting. Outrageously, thanks to Akron Signal’s new Q and A, Akron officers are allowed to purchase and use assault rifles on their own, not department issued! There needs to be immediate action by Akron City Council to outlaw this practice and legislation introduced at the state level. Officers should not be allowed to carry anything but APD-issued weapons, as they leads to the longstanding practice of police carrying an untraceable “extra” weapon they could plant on a scene. I once had an Ann Arbor police officer offer to buy such a weapon from me when I went to the department to turn in a 22 caliber pistol that was in an estate, but which we did not want in the house. I wanted it destroyed. It is still unclear as to how far the shell casing were from Jazmir’s body; I thought the reported shooting to which the officers responded was from another place than where Jazmir was shot. I’m not clear. Akron Signal is on it!

1/9/2025 According to a press release from APD, “The two shell casings which were recovered at the Northeast portion of Miller South on the evening of Nov. 28, 2024 have been positively matched through the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network {NIBIN) to the gun recovered on scene from Jazmir Tucker. There is no further information at this time.”

Two Akron City Council members have called for the firing of Officer Devon Fields, who has been identified in news reports as the officer who shot Jazmir.

In the below linked Akron Beacon News account, Officer Fields said, “We need someone to check the parking lot behind him. That is where he was shooting." It is unclear from press reports where Jazmir was shot in relation to the “Northeast Portion” of Miller South High School or the parking lot. I am trying to look into this further but am not actively reporting on this at this time. I’m just commenting here on news items to which I link here.

1/8/25: According to Ideastream, Officer Fields, the Akron police office who used deadly force on Jazmir Tucker, has previously been involved in a 2022 use of deadly force while also on the Akron force.

Introduction

Here is a durable link to the items I am bookmarking: https://tinyurl.com/JazmirTucker. Readers are encouraged to send links to items to michaelalandover@gmail.com with Lagniappe Links in the subject. Minor updates do not produce subscriber notificaitons, only new posts, so readers are encouraged to subscribe (at no cost). Send comments to the above email please.

Only one news account has verified keys questions, when, exactly, was Tazmir shot, and how many times. According to Bruce Buyakie, in the 12/6/24 Akron Journal News, Officer Millers shot him approximately seven times over three seconds, with an assault rifle, prior to the audio of the bodycam. That story is here: https://tinyurl.com/BuyakieAccount and is in the set of items in the link above.

It is difficult to see this from the video, but Buyakie is to be commended for his careful analysis. From my listening to the audio, the officer repeatedly claimed Jazmire raised his hand. Approximately 7 minutes elapsed after the shooting before the numerous responding officers reached Jazmir’s prone body.

This latest Lagniappe section will have links to news coverage related to the Akron police shooting of Jazmir Tucker, 15, the day before Thanksgiving. Signal Akron seems to be covering this regularly: https://signalakron.org/.

This New York Times account https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/us/akron-police-shooting-jazmir-tucker.html?unlocked_article_code=1.f04.vxBE.GHvFDpgM5Jy2&smid=url-share raises some very serious concerns.

Reading it leads this reader to conclude that the actual shot or shots which took Jazmir Tucker’s life were fired just before or at the very beginning of the approximately seven minutes during which the released video elapsed, while the officers kept repeating the demand that the fallen youth move his hands to his side, while they positioned themselves at an undetermined but apparently considerable distance from where he lay, his gun zipped up in side his zipped up jacket. It seems to me the media must be persistently raising questions directly to all involved. There is a need for a timeline of the events that night.

This YouTube of interviews by WKYC is important: