Autopsy reveals 46 wounds on body of Black man killed in US police gunfire

Jayland Walker, the African American man who was killed in a hail of police gunfire last month in Akron, U.S. state of Ohio, had 46 gunshot wounds on his body, according to an autopsy report released on Friday, reported Xinhua.

"The autopsy examination determined that Mr. Walker had 46 gunshot wound entrance or graze injuries," the report read.

A graze injury results when the bullet runs along the surface of the skin but does not enter a specific area of the body. An entrance wound indicates that the bullet struck the skin and entered a part of the body and either exited the body or lodged within the tissues of the body.

"The photographic record shows more than 46 wounds because there are exit wounds, bullets beneath the skin and abrasions that were numbered for the purpose of identifying specific injuries in the photographs," Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said.

Walker's death was due to blood loss related to these injuries and the cause of death ruling was "multiple gunshot wounds," the report concluded.

"The family is devastated by the findings of the report and still await a public apology from the police department," the Walker family's legal team said in a statement.

Walker, 25, was fatally shot by Akron police officers on June 27 after a traffic stop turned into a pursuit. He was running away and unarmed when eight officers opened fire on him.

The officers involved in the shooting are on paid administrative leave and have not been named. The incident is under investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

A United Nations group will conduct an independent probe of the police shooting of Walker. After the investigation, the group will make recommendations to federal and state governments.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an American national civil rights group, has also called upon the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Walker's death.

"We are urging you and your Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder of Jayland Walker, and -- if what we all saw with our own eyes is true -- federally charge the officers responsible for his gruesome assassination," NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral service for Walker, held at a theater in downtown Akron on Wednesday, where demonstrations were held, leading to clashes to between police and protesters.

The police killing of Walker came a month after the second anniversary of African American man George Floyd's murder by white police officer Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee on the man's neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds during a street arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Floyd's death set off nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racism in the United States in the summer of 2020.

"Racism is real in America. It has always been. Xenophobia is real in America. It has always been," U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said from the White House in May.

According to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll that month, three-quarters of African Americans said they were worried that they or someone they love would be attacked because of their race. The survey also found that more than half of African Americans said they believed the problem of racism would get worse in their lifetimes.

Police in the United States shoot and kill more than 1,000 people each year, and African Americans are victims at a disproportionate rate, according to data from Mapping Police Violence.

African Americans are nearly three times more likely to be shot and killed by law enforcement than their white counterparts, the data showed.