911 call released after off-duty NC deputy fatally shoots Jason Walker in Fayetteville
Officials have released the 911 call from the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Jason Walker in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
On Saturday, Jan. 8, around 2:15 p.m., an off-duty deputy with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office shot Walker along Bingham Drive, according to the Fayetteville Police Department. The deputy, identified as Jeffrey Hash, has been placed on administrative leave “pending an internal investigation,” the sheriff’s office said Monday, Jan. 10.
Police said a “preliminary investigation” found Walker “ran into traffic and jumped on a moving vehicle” and the driver shot him before calling 911. Walker was pronounced dead at the scene.
The case has sparked protests as activists question the narrative surrounding how Walker, who is Black, died, The News & Observer reported.
On Tuesday, Jan. 11, officials released on NextRequest audio of the 911 call that Hash made on Jan. 8. A second call from a bystander was also released, but it was made as officers arrived and ended quickly, ABC11 reported.
Hash starts the call by telling the dispatcher that he had “just shot” a man who he said jumped on his vehicle and broke his windshield. He then identified himself as a lieutenant with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
The dispatcher then asks if the man is breathing.
“No ma’am, he is not,” Hash responds. “He is gone.”
The dispatcher goes on to ask Hash to describe what happened.
“I was driving down the road, and he came flying across Bingham Drive, running, and then I stopped so I wouldn’t hit him, and he jumped on my car and started screaming, pulled my windshield wipers off and started beating my windshield and broke my windshield. I had my wife and my daughter in my vehicle,” he says.
“Did he have any weapons, sir?” the dispatcher asks.
“No, he just tore my wipers off and started beating the ... he busted my windshield. I don’t know ma’am,” Hash responds.
He goes on to say there are “tons of cars” and “people gathering around” at the scene.
The dispatcher then asks if anyone on the scene has a “clean, dry cloth.” Hash responds that “we are plugging the holes now” and can be heard telling others on the scene that he doesn’t know where he shot the man.
He says that people on the scene are “hostile” and he’s trying to protect his wife and daughter. The dispatcher then tells him not to engage with them as officers arrived on the scene.
The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting, the Fayetteville Police Department said.
Some demonstrators dispute what police have said about the case.
One person who said she witnessed the incident told a crowd outside the police station on Jan. 9 that Walker was trying to cross the street to get home when he was struck by Hash’s truck, The Associated Press reported.
But Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins said during a news conference that an examination of the truck’s black box computer did not show any signs of impact and that the only person on the scene who said they saw what happened said Walker was not hit by the truck.
Additionally, Hawkins noted that a windshield wiper had been torn from the truck and that the metal portion had been used to break the windshield in several places, the AP reported.
Anyone who saw what happened is asked to call State Bureau of Investigation at 1-888-624-7222, Hawkins said during the news conference, according to The N&O.
At the news conference, Hawkins said Hash was taken into custody but not arrested and that police were currently in possession of his firearm, the N&O reported. She did not say whether he was still in custody.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 3:39 PM.
