Police in Akron, Ohio, released video of an officer shooting a 15-year-old boy who was holding what his family says was a toy gun. The footage shows the teenager was struck seconds after the officer ordered him to put his hands up. The officer, Ryan Westlake, shot Tavion Koonce-Williams in the wrist on April 1, 2024.
Westlake, a nine-year department veteran, was responding to a call about a person pointing a gun at houses. Akron police said the weapon Koonce-Williams had been carrying was a “facsimile.” On Monday, April 8, Akron released Westlake’s file, revealing a history of disciplinary actions and use-of-force incidents.
The police department released the video of the interaction “in an effort to be as transparent as possible.” As stated earlier, the shooting occurred on April 1, shortly after 7 p.m. According to police reports, a woman called police claiming she had seen a Black male “pull out a gun.”
The woman said the male was pointing the gun at houses in Tonawanda Avenue and Newton Street. Westlake, the responding officer, found the male, later identified by his family as Tavion Koonce-Williams, several blocks away. Westlake found the boy around Brittain Road and Ottawa Avenue and fired a single bullet that struck him.
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Following the incident, officials rushed the 15-year-old to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, police said in their initial release. Furthermore, police said they recovered a facsimile firearm the teen had in his possession before the shooting.
Imokhai Okolo, an attorney for the boy’s family, said in a statement Monday that Koonce-Williams had a toy gun. “Tavion is heard multiple times saying, ‘It’s a fake … I just wanted to be safe,'” Okolo said.
He added that the boy did not point the toy gun at anyone’s home or any individual, “and certainly not any member of the Akron Police Department.” Following the video’s release, the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter released a statement.
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The agency said Westlake “acted within policy and procedure and according to his training.” The personnel file shows that the police union previously represented Westlake. Notably, the union won him back his job after he pulled his firearm on his girlfriend in January 2021.
“While some may watch the video and play ‘Monday morning quarterback,'” the union said in a statement. “That is not a luxury officers have when faced with these complex situations.”
The union said people may have “concerns” about Westlake’s personnel file. However, the union said that does not change the fact that his action on April 1, 2024, “was objectively reasonable.” Following the incident, the city placed Westlake on paid administrative leave under department procedures.
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Westlake, 33, graduated from the Kent State University Police Academy, and the state hired him in June 2014. “The officer’s file includes a number of disciplinary actions and use of force incidents,” Akron Mayor Shammas Malik’s office said, “one of which has been deemed unreasonable.”
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent investigation into the use-of-force incident. Afterward, it will submit its findings to the state attorney general’s office for review.
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