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A 12-YEAR-OLD BOY carrying a pellet gun that looked like a real firearm was ordered three times to show his hands before he was fatally shot by an officer, Cleveland police said today —- as they released surveillance video of the shooting and identified the officers involved.
The boy was shot within two seconds of the cruiser pulling up next to him, according to the surveillance video, which is silent and shows the shooting in stuttering images.
Police said it was being released as requested by the family of the boy, Tamir Rice.
They also released audio of a 911 call reporting a gun and a dispatcher directing officers to the scene.
“This is not an effort to exonerate. It’s not an effort to show the public that anybody did anything wrong,” Deputy Chief Edward Tomba said.
This is an obvious tragic event where a young member of our community lost their life. We’ve got two officers that were out there protecting the public that just had to, you know, do something that nobody wants to do.
Tomba refused to comment on what the officers said in their statements, including whether Tamir made any comments to them.
Police identified the responding officers as 26-year-old Timothy Loehmann, who was appointed to the force this year and was identified as the officer who fired on Tamir, and 46-year-old Frank Garmback, who’s been with the department since 2008.
Police say Tamir was told to raise his hands three times, then reached into his waistband for what appeared to be a firearm. Police later determined it was an airsoft gun, which shoots small plastic pellets. Airsoft guns are sold with orange safety indicators at the end of the barrel, but police said Tamir didn’t have one.
The boy was shot on Saturday as officers responded to a call about someone with a gun at a Cleveland playground.
Police said Tamir was given first aid less than 4 minutes after the shooting, and emergency medical personnel arrived three minutes after that.
He died at a hospital the next day.
The shooting has led to an investigation of the officer’s use of force and protests referencing this and other police-involved shootings.
The officers involved have been interviewed, and police have obtained statements from several other people, Tomba said.
He said police are monitoring social media for any indications of other potential witnesses and are pleading for people to come forward if they have information related to the case, even if it is just a tidbit.
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Thank God I live in a country where if a kid is pointing a gun around in a park everybody automatically assumes its a toy and acts accordingly.
There are no winners in this scenario.
Young male waving gun at kids in a playground,
Police respond, order him to put his hands up, he goes for his weapon,
They open fire.
Case closed
How is two seconds enough time to ask the kid to show his hands three times?
I’d agree, but then I think about the cop who also has a family that he wants to go home to at the end of his work shift. He sees a stranger, albeit a child, with something that looks exactly like a real gun and makes a split second decision which, if he hesitates, could result in the end of his life.
Tough one to debate, all I know is I’d absolutely hate to be in his shoes.
If it even was two seconds, the car looked like it barely stopped moving before the cop exited and the kid went down. No way the cops assessed the situation, they drove right up and shot him on sight. The kid didn’t have time to respond. Tragic seeing as he never even knew his life was in danger 3 seconds before hand.
The Cops could have used the car for cover, and take a little bit more time to
Access the situation,
The video opens with the explanation “the video is compressed for time” it could be a lot longer than it looks in real time!
When you are told by the cops to put your hands up you can automatically assume your life depends on it. If you reach for a suspected weapon even a pellet gun then it doesn’t matter if it was only 2 seconds . Whether you like it or not this is a society where kids with guns have killed There has been enough school shootings to prove that.
Danny that is nieve, the question is, who gave a child a realistic air gun. Middle east and parts of Africa kids of 10 have the real thing and maybe in the U.S. my heart goes out to the family and the policeman. That is how society has become because of powerful gun lobbiests.
Its appears to be 2 frames a second which is pretty standard for security cameras, it can be judged or made out by distance covered and each step being taken by the driving officer on exiting the vehicle visible. Still doesn’t change the fact the kid was shot and going down before the passenger rookie cop had his two feet on the ground.
So let me get this straight?
The kid “was ordered three times to show his hands” by the officer in a mere 2 SECONDS?
No chance.
That cop would have to be speaking as fast as woody woodpecker to say it once in 2 seconds.
“Police said Tamir was given first aid less than “4 MINUTES” after the shooting”
From the video there was very little sign of these cops running to this dying kids assistance.
More footage should be shown to clarify this.
They should have pulled up a bit away from the kid.
They nearly ran him over.
From what I’ve seen of them, american cops they are vastly overweight, unfit and cumbersome.
It looks like these guys drove up close and shot the kid out of the window of the car so as to save themselves the hassle from having to waddle a few steps.
Classic case of shoot first and ask questions later.
Looking over this a couple of times.
This is cack handed.
Firstly they show him waving the gun at a passerby for effect.
Then they cut to a part in the tape where he is out in the open seemingly by himself with no one near him.
Then they get so close they nearly run him over.
Then after shooting him face to face (dead) at point blank range, one of them decides to take cover behind the car as the other one drws his gun and hovers around at a fair distance.
A brain and a megaphone was all that was needed to save this kids life and if possible some of the police force’s reputation.
Although life is cheap these days in the USA.
Ok Stephen.
They are not overweight.
Is that better.
Better anyway than your theory about what happened in Cleveland
Not nice to watch…
No police officer wants to shoot a child…..
I agree Tom… This is just an awful situation for both families.
My heart goes out to both.
To anyone who red thumbs me.. I said families… No matter what the cop did, and I don’t think for a second he does not rue the day, he has a family, what are they going through right now tonight.
I’m not taking away from the loss of a 12 year old. That’s heartbreaking beyond belief.
2 seconds !! They assessed that scene enough in 2 seconds to determine that this CHILD was such a threat he deserved to die!! He was 12. He had the logic of a 12 year old child! How do we know he wasn’t just trying to say “it’s a air sort gun” but didn’t get listened to because hey what can you hear in 2 (TWO!!!!) seconds. No excuses. . This was wrong.
What incredibly scary and worrying is the amount of people thinking this is fine..
Initially I thought the cop had very little choice but after watching that it appears he didn’t even think. Personally that is not the kind of cop I would want patrolling the neighbourhood I live in.
If I was a cop, and I had a gun to defend myself, somebody, anybody waving a gun around me is going to eat a bullet, regardless of age. It’s not Die Hard or Lethal Weapon. It’s real life.
I’ve got my own family to think about.
“Eat a bullet”
Watching the TV too much me thinks.
There’s always Juan….
Glad your not a “cop” with a gun Don in my world. Turn off the xbox call of duty get out of the house will ye….
It takes Juan to know Juan
He’s some man for juan man
Ok get shot then. What’s an x box?
Its Juan hell of a computer
Glen, you live in Lucan. This happened in America. Why would an American cop be patrolling in your neighborhood? You seem to have a hard time separating the US from Ireland.
With that attitude you certainly should not be given a fire arm under any circumstances, anti-psychotic medication maybe, but not a firearm.
It looks like they just rolled up and shot him. Tragic thing to happen.
Idiot.
Imagine the conversation?!
Cop 1: “Let’s shoot someone”
Cop 2: “yeah there’s a 12 year old, let’s do him”
Really!?!!
Glen, the video was compressed. Do you not understand that?
Just a kid. R.i.p
Can children not be children anymore :(
Sick buggers of Cops – NRA & KKK driven, in their love of killing and using their awful Guns !
Shocking and out of control USA – where Gun values have taken control of ordinary Citizens Civil Rights and respect for human life – only the mistaken “Rights” to Guns !
They drove in too fast and too close to the kid giving no time or distance to properly asses the situation.
That cop who got out on the same side as the kid is lucky that it wasn’t some psycho with a real gun.
The approach to the gun wielding youth should have been different. Speak over the police microphone from a greater distance than 2 metres for a start.
Terrible decision making from the police officer. Why approach someone you think is armed? Makes no sense considering there is nobody else around, totally bizarre. They could have stayed back and spoke to the gunman as he apparently saw it? I would usually defend someone in such a difficult job but that was just terrible judgement.
Disgraceful and totally unnecessary
Unfortunately in the states many young people have brought guns to school and massacred innocent people. It’s such a shame a child was killed but it was a real possibility that that fun was a real one. No winners in this one.
Enters at speed. Jumps out firearm drawn. If they thought it was a real firearm what part of this was intended to defuse the situation.
Thats murder.
Why did the officer pull up beside the kid if they believed he was carrying a real gun and was a potential danger to other civilians. Surely the right thing to do in that situation is to keep a reasonable distance and ask the kid to drop the weapon and lay on the ground with hands behind head before escalating the situation to “shoot to kill”. I would hate to live in America given how trigger happy the police are.
Do they not negotiate anymore?
Police cars have speakers
But this police car was driven by a racist. Who murdered a child. And who most likely be protected because of the clothes hes wearing.
Absolutely horrific, but a point on the 2 seconds issue. Didn’t the police officer in the press conference say the video was compressed for time? It was the article that said it was 2 seconds according to the video?
This is awful, how could they have told him to raise his hands three times in 2 seconds. Why pull up so close if they thought he was armed? They just jumped out and killed him.
I agree.
If it was a real danger the police shoulda stayed at some distance called for more police and made a perimeter around the kid. Seems very gun hoe by police. Kid never had a chance. Keeping in mind he was a 12 year old boy as in when was the last time a 12yr old boy listened and did an instruction in less then 5 seconds….. ???
Have to agree very fast in fact too fast for any properly trained firearms officer to access the situation. I’m not a cop but I do know and use fire arms and this was far too quick. It looks like the just rolled up and shot him. Looks totally unprofessional the way the approached him. gung ho cops. As well as that I thought all toy guns in America are by law supposed to be painted with a full orange barrel. Then again I suppose any gang banger could paint his own weapon that colour. What a waste of a young life all because they couldn’t have taken some extra time to weigh up the situation.
Is that supposed to clear the whole thing up?
Elaine ,you are quite right. There is No Time to acess. Just kill. This is the way it is going. America is nourotic!!
You don’t get shot for nothing
Often people do though
Tell that to the Jean Charles da Silva e de Menezes killed when British police mistook him for someone else.
Kid was to young to even contemplate what he was doing.
Ordered 3 times to show his hands within 2 seconds? Wft then fatally shot! My god ok even IF it was a real gun couldn’t have talked him out or maybe wounded him so he surrendered?? So angry reading this!
That poor kid got a 2 second warning and his parents were left with a body to bury. The innocent kids massacred by US drones every day get no warning before they are blown to smithereens. This is just another sick injustice from a sick government
Big man , shooting a 12 yr old
Thought it was bad before I watched the video, but there is no defending this. No time taken to assess situation; no effort to disarm, even by aiming at a limb. Instead two shots to the chest. Some police forces could be accused of operating a shoot to kill policy.
why would a black child be walking around a playground with a toy. Everyone knows, black kids should stay indoors as far away from cops as possible
Jed. You are distorting the facts, it wasn’t a playground and the “toy” was a pellet gun. When the cops tell you to put your hands up you must assume your life depends on it and you don’t reach into your pants for what the cops assume is a weapon.
Tragic, biggest mistake he will ever make in his short life was reaching for his waist band !!
What most of you are forgetting is the video has been time compressed.
Two seconds is the reaction time not the video length of the shooting
Looks to be 2 frames a second, not that compressed. Pretty standard for security systems.
Still cant understand why in circumstances like this that the police are not supposed to shoot people in the hand, leg, arm etc etc to try amd disarm them. They just seem to aim straight for the head with intent to kill.
Stephen just because you shoot someone in the leg or hand or arm doesn’t mean the will live its not tv. They could die just as quick as they would from a body mass shot.
While I am fully aware police in the US take their lives in their hands every day they work due to the proliferation of guns, but in this case it appears to me he got of the patrol car and shot the child “hit man style” no second thoughts or no second chances here.
I hope whoever sold this toy to him is watching….I am sure the profit from the sale will assuage any guilt they may feel….
The law has changed in Ireland on air soft guns. If you produce a air soft hand gun or rifle in a public place and frighten the public, you can be arrested.
Both sides of the fence after watching that.
Horrible for that child to have lost his life for what can only be attributed to childish stupidity. And yet, police officer had absolutely no choice to do what he did, assume that the situation is live and respond accordingly.
As with other comments, glad we live in a society where gun prevalence is not the norm and our police force doesn’t have to respond with such absolute force. When will the USA learn from all the gun violence?
Yes there will be gun crime, but if they aren’t so readily available(i.e. stealing daddy’s legally held handgun for laughs etc.), their death rate, and subsequent threats are dramatically reduced.
have your say