The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has completed its investigations into the high-profile killings of Jazmir Tucker and Michael Jones by Akron police officers, and the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office has referred both cases to outside prosecutors who will present the cases to local grand juries.
The announcement that the two investigations were completed two months ago and one month ago, respectively, was made by City of Akron Director of Law Deborah Matz on Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend.
Nov. 28, 2024: Jazmir Tucker, 15
Officer: Davon Fields
Investigation completed: March 25, 2025 (117 days)
Investigators: Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Prosecutors: Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office
Grand jury to hear evidence: Summit County
The Ohio BCI’s investigation into the November killing of Tucker by Fields of the Akron police was completed on March 25, nearly four months after the incident. The investigation has since been referred to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, which may present it to a Summit County grand jury to determine if criminal charges will be filed.
It is the Akron Police Department’s policy to request that the Ohio BCI, an arm of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, investigate killings by its officers. The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office has a policy to request, once investigations are complete, that outside prosecutors with the AG’s office review investigations into killings by local police officers to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest.
The Summit County Prosecutor’s Office told Signal Akron on Friday afternoon that it was the AG’s office that selected Mahoning County prosecutors to review the case. The Youngstown-based prosecutors will present the case to a Summit County grand jury, who will decide if criminal charges will be brought against Fields.
According to the county medical examiner, Fields on Thanksgiving night shot Tucker in the back twice and arm once with a high-powered assault-style rifle in front of Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts after officers reported hearing gunshots in a nearby field. Tucker did have a gun, but it was zipped away in a jacket pocket when he was killed.
Controversially, Fields did not switch on his body-worn camera as he approached the high school freshman. Fields’ and his partner’s cameras were only activated when a nearby cruiser turned on its overhead lights, but it was too late to meaningfully document the shooting. Audio recording on body-worn cameras does not begin until 30 seconds after video recording begins.
Without audio, any commands or verbal observations made by the officers are unverifiable. The footage also showed officers waited at least seven minutes to approach the motionless teenager after Fields shot him.
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Signal Akron submitted a public records request to Akron Public Schools for external surveillance footage before, during and after the time Tucker was killed, but the footage provided by APS lawyers did not capture the shooting.
Previous Ohio BCI investigations revealed that Fields shot an armed man named Lawrence Rodgers in the chest with an assault-style rifle — an Aero Precision 5.56 NATO semi-automatic rifle. BCI records say that immediately after Fields shot Rodgers, the man fled to his living room and shot and killed another man before succumbing to his wounds. Fields was not accused by investigators or prosecutors of wrongdoing in that case.
Fields was also at the scene of the 2022 killing of Jayland Walker but said he didn’t fire his rifle because he didn’t have a clear shot. Records obtained by Signal Akron indicate Fields filed 36 use-of-force reports since January 2022, not including the shootings of Rodgers and Tucker.
Aug. 17, 2024: Michael Jones, 54
Officers: Nakoa Anderson, Michael Novak
Investigation completed: April 24, 2025 (250 days)
Investigators: Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Prosecutors: Ohio Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Section
Grand jury to hear evidence: Summit County
The Ohio BCI’s investigation into the Aug. 17 killing of 54-year-old Michael Jones by officers Nakoa Anderson and Michael Novak at an East Avenue gas station was completed on April 24 and referred to the Ohio Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Section.
Jones was killed after 1 a.m. that night. Anderson and Novak spotted a U-Haul Truck that had previously been reported as unreturned by U-Haul. Signal Akron previously described the incident based on gas station surveillance cameras and officers’ bodyworn cameras.
Attorney General spokesperson Steve Irwin said Summit County prosecutors requested that the AG’s office act as special prosecutors in the case and said that the office is still reviewing the case before it’s presented to a Summit County grand jury.
That state prosecutor’s unit tends to handle “cases involving complex issues and higher level offenses,” according to the AG’s site, and its attorneys are “seasoned prosecutors, each with experience in at least 20 felony jury trials. Our attorneys have expertise in a wide range of cases, from child abuse, human trafficking and capital murder to financial crimes, drug trafficking/wiretap and public corruption.”
