The Akron police officers who killed an armed former professor who fled a traffic stop in a stolen car 11 months ago will not be criminally prosecuted.
According to a Friday afternoon statement from the union representing Akron police officers, a Summit County grand jury declined to indict the officers who fired on 39-year-old Marcus L. Smith. The “no bill” issued by the local grand jury on Friday came after prosecutors presented evidence gathered by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation in the wake of the Feb. 17, 2025, shooting.
Records from the Ohio BCI investigation will soon be released online.
Signal Akron previously reported that Smith, a former University of Cincinnati professor who was experiencing an apparent mental health crisis, was shot and killed on Ira Avenue in the Summit Lake area after fleeing a traffic stop in a stolen car, then firing a gun while officers were chasing him.
Records reviewed by Signal Akron last year — including body camera footage and 911 audio — detail that Smith allegedly stole a car in Columbus before returning to Akron and stealing his father’s car from his driveway on Ira Avenue. Smith then fled a traffic stop a half mile away while firing a gun before leading police to the street in front of his father’s house, where he again fired his gun before police shot and killed him.
“The body worn camera footage released today underscores the dangerous situation that our officers encountered on Monday morning,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik said in a statement after the killing last year.
“During the incident, officers attempted to stop Marcus Smith, who was armed and repeatedly fired a weapon. I remain very thankful that no other lives were lost in this incident. My thoughts are with all of the responding officers as they process this traumatic encounter, with the neighborhood residents who witnessed it, and with our officers who begin shifts each day knowing that they may have to respond to a similar call.”