The Fayetteville Police Department on Tuesday released the 911 call in the fatal weekend shooting of Jason Walker by an off-duty Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office has identified the deputy as Jeffrey Hash, a 38-year-old lieutenant in the Sheriff’s Office civil division.
Hash made the roughly four-minute call soon after he shot and killed Walker after they encountered each other on Bingham Drive at 2:18 p.m. Saturday.
“I just had a male jump on my vehicle and broke my windshield. I just shot him. I am a deputy sheriff,” Hash can be heard saying in a quivering, emotional voice after providing the 911 dispatcher with his location.
“You said you shot him?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yes. He jumped on my car.”
“What’s your name?” the dispatcher asked.
“I am a lieutenant with the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office,” Hash replied.
“Are you right beside the subject?” she asked, referring to Walker.
“I am. He’s gone. He’s gone, ma’am,” Hash said shakenly. “He’s gone.”
The dispatcher then inquired when this occurred.
“Just now,” he told her.
“What kind of vehicle are you in?”
“I am in a red Ford F-150. He shattered my windshield,” Hash said.
When the dispatcher asked what kind of vehicle the victim was in, the deputy can be heard saying to a bystander, “Keep moving ma’am. I’m a deputy sheriff. He jumped on my vehicle. I just had to shoot him.”
In the 911 call, Hash says: “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. Broke my windshield. I had my wife and my daughter in my (vehicle).”
Hash told the dispatcher “there are tons of cars and people gathering around.”
He said a trauma nurse was on the scene.
One passerby can be heard saying, “Why did you shoot him, sir?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “He was on the front of my vehicle.”
The dispatcher told him to focus on her and to not engage with those who had gathered around.
Another 911 call was placed from the scene by what sounded like a different caller. The caller stuttered and seemed to be at a loss for words when he told the dispatcher, “I think somebody was shot.”
That caller then told the dispatcher that officers “were pulling up now.”
Hash has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 2005. He has been placed on administrative leave with pay, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Hash has not been charged in the shooting.
Police Chief Gina Hawkins said at a news conference Sunday that she has deferred the criminal investigation to the State Bureau of Investigation.
About 100 people marched in downtown Fayetteville on Sunday demanding justice and calling for an arrest. About 30 protesters assembled outside the FAST Transit Center on Monday where the City Council was meeting.
At that meeting, the council adopted a resolution asking that the Department of Justice take part in the investigation. Hawkins told the council Monday that she had been in touch with the FBI, which would be part of the assessment.
Michael Futch covers Fayetteville and education for CityView TODAY. He can be reached at mfutch@cityviewnc.com. Have a news tip? Email news@CityViewTODAY.com.
