Residents, family demand accountability after teen Jasmine Tucker’s death; council president apologizes for handling of memorial

Multiple speakers at the Akron City Council public-comment period on an evening session criticized city officials and the Akron Police Department over the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Jasmine Tucker and the city’s handling of a recent memorial for him.

Community organizers and family members said the city required Akron Police Department presence — and in some accounts asked that the family pay for that policing — at an event intended to remember Tucker, who speakers said was fatally shot by an Akron officer. “To allow eight murderers from the Akron Police Department to go free from any accountability for Jalen Walker is a tragedy,” speaker David Goran said, adding later that the shooting victims he cited were Black. Gregory Levy, who organized a remembrance outside after an indoor request was canceled, said the city told organizers they would have to pay the police department to provide security. “The city said, you have to pay for the Akron Police Department who killed Jasmine,” Levy said. “That’s what this city said.”

Several speakers described the memorial arrangements as hurtful to the family and emblematic of broader distrust toward the department. Jessica Riddle, introduced as a Ward 5 resident, spoke about the circumstances surrounding Jasmine Tucker’s death and the family’s grief. Anna Stevenson told the council she was surprised the city required Akron police at the event, saying, “It is surprising to me that no one preemptively considered that a family whose loved one was murdered by Akron PD would not want to then pay money to that same police department or any police department to watch over an event in his honor.” Lillian Barnes said the event’s handling was “shameful” and asked when change will come.

Council President Margo Somerville addressed public comments near the end of the meeting and offered an apology to the Tucker family. “I do want to public[ly] apologize to the Tucker family in terms of how that was handled,” Somerville said, and added she had spoken with the mayor and hoped the administration would handle similar situations “with more care and more sensitivity.”

Speakers called for accountability and for the city to reconsider protocols it uses when approving and staffing public memorials, especially when the subject of the memorial is a person killed by police. Anna Stevenson and others urged city leaders to consider alternatives to requiring police security in cases where the family and community oppose APD presence.

No formal council action on city protocols or policing policy was recorded during this meeting. Council President Somerville said she had discussed the matter with the mayor and expressed hope for improved handling going forward. The meeting adjourned following routine business and committee reports.