AKRON, Ohio – Police shot and killed a 19-year-old in his family’s driveway after officers said he pulled a gun from beneath the seat of the car he was driving and pointed it at them – an account the teen’s passenger disputes.
Police stopped the car early Saturday after following it from a known drug-dealing area, Akron police spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards said, and an officer approaching the car along the passenger side reported Demetrus Vinson grabbed the gun from under the seat.
The officer yelled for his partner, on the car’s driver’s side, to stay back, then fired at least three shots after Vinson pointed the gun at the second officer, Edwards said. A 15-year-old sitting in the passenger seat was unhurt, but Vinson was shot and killed.
Vinson’s mother, Beverly Wallace, said she planned to hire a private investigator to examine the shooting, saying officers told her conflicting accounts about her son’s death.
“Demetrus was a sweet boy,” Wallace said. “Never looking for trouble.”
The passenger, Chance Baker, acknowledged there was a gun in the car, but claimed Vinson had not reached for it and had instead rolled down the car window to talk with officers.
The officers were placed on administrative leave while the department investigates the shooting, Edwards said. The Summit County Medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Saturday, but did not rule on the cause of death.
