FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The intersection where Jason Walker died is less than a hundred yards from his parents’ home in Fayetteville.
The deputy, Lieutenant Jeffrey Hash, was not on duty when he shot and killed Walker, a 37-year-old Black man, on a busy four-lane road at about 2:20 p.m. Saturday.
Just what happened in Bingham Road that afternoon is under investigation by both the Fayetteville police and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Hash has not been arrested.
In a 911 call just after the shooting, Hash says Walker jumped on the hood of the truck, a red Ford F-150, broke off one of his windshield wipers and started attacking with it. Hash said his wife and child were in the truck with him.
"I had a male jump on my vehicle and break my windshield. I just shot him," Hash said in a 911 call. "He jumped on my vehicle. I just had to shoot him."
But, many in the community are skeptical of the deputy’s version of events.
A nurse who was nearby, later identified as Elizabeth Ricks, can be heard in the background asking for something to stop the bleeding.
Video from the scene, widely shared on social media, shows Walker on the ground next to the truck as Ricks tries to help him. Walker’s shoes are off, a broken windshield wiper lays in the street. Hash stands nearby on the phone.
A crowd started to gather around the truck. Hash told the 911 operator people were getting “hostile.”
One of the first police officers in the video checks on Walker but then talks to Hash. It takes minutes until EMS arrives.
After paramedics take over treating Walker, Ricks confronts Hash in the video. “I am going to protect my wife and my child,” Hash replies.
“The fact that a civilian was the only person that rendered aid to Jason as he took his last breath is horrifying,” said Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Walker family.
“It is apparent by Ms. Ricks’ accounts that the off-duty officer who was involved in this incident, as well as the officers who responded to the incident, were self-interested and concerned about obscuring how the public would see this killing, rather than concerned for Jason in his final moments,” Crump said.
Fayetteville has seen nightly protests since Walker’s killing Saturday, calling for Hash to be arrested. Hash is on paid leave from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, but has not been charged or arrested.
Protesters gathered once again Wednesday night, this time just blocks from where Walker died. They met in a Food Lion parking lot for a silent march to the scene of the killing.
The grocery store closed early ahead of the protest. The gathering included Walker’s friends and family members.
“I grew up without my father. So, I kind of looked at Jason as a father figure,” said his niece, who would only give her name as Mo P. “He was in our life when we were kids, and I am never going to see him again.”
“They killed him like he was an animal, and he was somebody,” she said through tears. “His son is going to grow up without a father.”
“He’s at home right now with paid leave,” she said, referring to Hash. “He should not be getting paid, he took someone’s life.”
The mood was somber, with more the air of a funeral than a protest. The temperature dropped into the 30s.
“Jason, he was loving, he was kind, he was supportive,” said Loretta Daniels, who said she had known Walker for 45 years. “He was genuine, he was a good father.”
About 100 people gathered at the corner where Walker died. They took turns laying flowers and candles around a light pole on the corner. The small memorial grew, spreading out on the corner alongside busy Bingham Street.
The memorial is in sight of Walker’s family home.
Multiple agencies are investigating the killing. The Fayetteville Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation are the main agencies looking into it.
The SBI typically leads investigations into shootings when police officers or deputies are involved.
The Fayetteville City Council also voted to ask the FBI to review the case.
“Your agency’s previous and ongoing reviews of tragic shootings across the nation show that the Department of Justice and the FBI are uniquely equipped to handle these complex situations,” City Manager Douglas Hewett said in a letter this week to the Department of Justice.
“We have full faith that the SBI will conduct a thorough investigation into Mr. Walker’s death. However, members of City Council believe strongly that your department’s involvement or assistance with any investigation will help our citizens trust that the investigation will be both thorough and transparent,” Hewett wrote.
On Wednesday, Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins asked the court for permission to release body camera video from her officers who responded to the scene, according to the Fayetteville Observer. In North Carolina, a court order is required to release any body camera video.
There were no officers there during the shooting, so the video would not show what happened. But, it would show witness statements taken by officers at the scene.
Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West said he will appoint an independent prosecutor to oversee the case. The prosecutor will come from the North Carolina Association of District Attorneys.
“We want public confidence in this process,” West said in a new conference Sunday. “We’re asking an outside agency that has no connection to this jurisdiction to serve as the prosecutorial agency in this matter.”
As the investigations continue, so do the nightly protests.
Walker’s family and their attorneys plan to speak Thursday night at a new conference and rally at the Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
There’s no video of what happened in the minutes before Hash shot and killed Walker. It will be up to the SBI to figure out what happened. Then it will fall to the independent prosecutor to decide whether to charge Hash in the killing.
Spectrum News 1 reporter Patrick Thomas contributed.