Syracuse police continue their investigation into the officer-involved shooting early Thursday morning that injured a 23-year-old man. Officers responded to Mark Ave when the department’s shot spotter technology indicated multiple shots fired.
After they arrived, Chief Kenton Buckner says at some point, the man now identified as Jakelle Davis approached one of the three officers on the scene.
"At some point during that encounter, Mr. Davis attempts to pull a weapon, later recovered as a gun. He was shot one time by the officer."
Buckner says after the incident, officers gave Davis first aid. His injuries are non-life threatening. the officer was not hurt.
The officers on the scene did not have body cameras, but Buckner says they’re canvassing street cameras looking for witnesses. He acknowledges there’s little more information given the ongoing investigation, but felt it was appropriate to share what they know so far.
"Given the gravity of what's been going in our nation and certainly in our city over the past month, we certainly feel like we need to be looking at things as an organization to make make the appropriate changes to try to increase transparency, particularly on these kinds of things."
Mayor Ben Walsh agreed, saying they're just trying to be up front, even if they can't share much information.
"We've been having a city-wide and nationwide dialogue over the past few weeks about police community relations, police accountability, police use of force. We thought in light of the current situation, in light of the heightened tensions all of us have in this community, that we owed it to all parties involved and to those that we serve to share what information we do have. It's frustrating that we don't have more, and it's frustrating to the public. But we want everyone to know how seriously we take this."
Walsh knows emotions are raw over racism and police conduct, not to mention the struggling economy caused by the global pandemic…and that the stress is spilling over into a spike in violence. He urges people to take care of each other, and to treat one another with dignity and respect.
