An Akron police officer shot and killed 15-year-old Jazmir Tucker, a freshman at North High School, late on Thanksgiving Day. Police said Jazmir was carrying a firearm near the intersection of East Avenue and Vernon Odom Boulevard.

What happens next? Signal Akron assembled some questions and answers to help outline the process that will be followed during the investigation.

Who investigates officer-involved fatal shootings involving Akron Police officers?

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is now listed as the default “preferred agency,” instead of APD’s own detectives, to investigate after Akron officers kill or seriously injure someone.

In December 2023, the Akron Police Department quietly updated its internal policies — there was no public notice of the change — about police shootings in the wake of the Jayland Walker killing.

In the case of the fatal shooting of Michael Jones on Aug. 17 on East Avenue, BCI investigators were on the scene quickly and conducted the crime scene investigation. No final report has been issued yet.

Signal background

Who processes the evidence from the crime scene?

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will gather evidence and conduct witness interviews from the crime scene as part of its overall investigation of the teenager’s death.

What happens when the investigation is completed?

After the investigation, the findings will be submitted to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office for review and then submitted to the Summit County Grand Jury for evaluation.

Grand juries, made up of nine people in Ohio, secretly weigh evidence and witness testimony presented by a prosecutor. They decide whether or not to indict a defendant, which means a formal charge or accusation is started, on what they find to be the appropriate charges. Simply put, the job of the grand jury is to decide if there is enough credible evidence to charge someone with a crime.

Will the body-worn camera footage of the incident be released?

Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, in a statement Friday, said the video footage from the cameras worn by the responding officers will be released to the public “within the next week.”

Akron City Council passed legislation in June 2021 that requires the city to release video footage that documents an Akron Police officer’s use of deadly force or force that results in serious bodily injury within seven days of the incident. At the time, the new law meant Akron was a leader in making video information related to critical incidents involving citizens and police available to the public in a timely manner, without the need for a public records request.

An Akron Police officer was involved in a fatal shooting involving a 15-year-old boy Thursday around 11 p.m. at Vernon Odom Boulevard and East Avenue
An Akron Police officer was involved in the fatal shooting of Jazmir Tucker, 15, Thursday around 11 p.m. near Vernon Odom Boulevard and East Avenue in Akron’s Sherbondy Hill neighborhood. (Screenshot via Google Street View.)

Will there be an internal affairs investigation into the shooting by the APD?

Yes, the Akron Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards and Accountability, known colloquially as internal affairs, will conduct a separate internal Investigation of the shooting.

The results will be provided to Akron Police Chief Brian Harding and Akron’s Independent Police Auditor, Anthony Finnell. 

What do we know about the young man who was killed?

Jazmir Tucker was 15 years old and a freshman at Akron’s North High School. He also spent some time in elementary school in Barberton.

One of his teachers at North, Dana Starvaggi, said Jazmir was ”a quietly charismatic guy who was always respectful to me as his teacher. He had the ability to miss class and then come in and do the work quicker than his peers, like he didn’t miss anything when he was out.”

Sunday afternoon, about 100 people gathered in front of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts for a balloon launch to remember Jazmir and support his family.

Green and black balloons rise into the sky to remember Jazmir Tucker
Green and black balloons rise into the sky to remember Jazmir Tucker, 15, who was shot and killed by an Akron police officer Thanksgiving evening. About 100 people gathered in front of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts on East Avenue, near where Jazmir was killed, to pay their respects and support his family. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)

What do we know about the incident where the teen was killed?

Not much yet – the information released by the Akron Police Department, along with other reporting from Signal Akron reporters, is in this story.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.