Who was Jason Walker? Black man, 37, hit by truck in NC shot dead by off-duty cop

FAYETTEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA: An off-duty cop allegedly shot a Black man dead in North Carolina after he allegedly jumped on his truck on January 8, Saturday. Demonstrators protested outside a police station the following day, condemning the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Jason Walker. A trauma nurse claimed that she had witnessed the incident and said that the cop hit Walker with a truck before shooting him. According to police in Fayetteville, Walker "ran into traffic and jumped on a moving vehicle". 

Police Chief Gina Hawkins said that no impact with any person or thing was recorded by the black box computer of the truck, which investigators examined. "We currently have no witnesses who claim that anyone was hit by this truck," Hawkins said, adding that the only person at the scene who said they witnessed the incident said that Walker was not hit by the truck. She also noted that a windshield wiper was torn off the truck.

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“That computer did not record any impact, with any person or thing,” she said. “We currently have no witnesses who claim that anyone was hit by this truck.” She added that “individuals at the scene indicated they did not witness the incident", News & Observer reported. 

Police did not disclose how many times Walker had been shot, but family members clamied that he was shot twice in the back. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Walker, who was a single father, is survived by a young son.

Who killed Jason Walker?

On Monday, January 10, authorities identified the off-duty cop as Lieutenant Jeffrey Hash. As per a ews release from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, Hash has been with the agency since 2005 and is now on administrative leave. The incident took place along Bingham Drive in  Fayetteville, outside Walker's home. 

A video filmed shortly after the incident shows a man, reportedly Walker, on the ground, receiving medical attention from a woman with several other people surrounding the scene. At one point, a man who is presumably Hash says that the situation seemed to be growing “hostile". "Jason Walker was hit, and then shot by an off duty Cumberland County Sheriff. Lies are already being told by the police contradicting witness statements. I have the receipts on my tiktok : ARonUNC," the caption of the video reads. 

Elizabeth Ricks, a trauma nurse who said she witnessed the attack, said that Walker was simply crossing the street to get to his home when she was hit by Hash's truck and then shot by the cop. Ricks immediately jumped into action and applied pressure on Walker's wounds, trying to save him. "I did not see anyone in distress. The man was just walking home," Ricks said. 

Protests erupted in the city following the killing, including one which was led by a group called Fayetteville Activist Movement. The group claimed that the Fayetteville Police Department only shared Hash’s “side of the story” and that eyewitnesses at the scene “revealed the truth".