AKRON, Ohio — More than two weeks ago, Akron police officer Ryan Westlake shot 15-year-old Tavion Koonce-Williams in the hand.

It happened after Westlake responded to a 911 call from a woman saying she saw Koonce-Williams walking around with what she believed to be a gun.

What You Need To Know

  • Officer Ryan Westlake shot 15-year-old Tavion Koonce-Williams in the hand following a 911 call where a woman said she saw Koonce-Williams carrying what she believed to be a gun 

  • Koonce-Williams had non-life-threatening injuries and said the gun he was holding was fake

  • This raises community concern over the potential new police chief hire and whether the new chief will bring change in Akron 

The body camera footage shows Westlake asking Koonce-Williams where he was coming from and if he could “see his hands real quick."

Then, Westlake fired his gun and shot Koonce-Williams in the hand. Koonce-Williams said the gun he was holding was fake. The police union that represents Akron police officers said Westlake acted within policy and procedure. Imokhai Okolo, the attorney representing Koonce-Williams, explained he’s tired of seeing situations like this happen in Akron.

“Ten years after the murder of Tamir Rice, which is an identical situation here, we’re still seeing the same results. You know, 69 years after the murder of Emmett Till, the lack of disregard for Black men and Black youth and Black boys at that time is still very much present here in the United States, here in Akron Ohio now in 2024,” Okolo said.

Another community member, Judi Hill, the president of the Akron chapter of the NAACP, expressed her concern over whether real change will happen in Akron, especially after Mayor Shammas Malik announced his search for the new police chief would be limited to internal candidates.

“If you do the same thing, you’re going to get the same results,” Hill said.

Malik narrowed down the search on Wednesday, announcing that the current acting chief, Deputy Chief Brian Harding, is the finalist. Ray Greene, the executive director of Freedom BLOC, said he’s not concerned over whether the police chief is hired externally or internally, but his fear is the lack of diversity and whether that will lead to real change.

“There are actually some good officers in the Akron Police Department that really took this job to try to do the right thing, but because of the historic and systemic racism in the system, they haven’t been allowed to elevate to a place where they can be qualified to be a chief,” Greene said. 

Okolo said that Koonce-Williams and his family are still struggling following the incident.

“Traumatized, you know it’s going to take Tavion a long time to sort of regain the sense of what it means to be a Black man in this country,” he said.

Spectrum News reached out to the city of Akron and the police department for comments. Akron police said Interim Chief Harding is not answering any questions about the incident while it’s being investigated. City officials did not respond before publication.