Police kill schoolboy wielding fake gun


A police officer is under investigation after shooting dead a 12-year-old boy who pulled a replica gun from the waistband of his trousers in a playground.

Tamir Rice passed away in the early hours of Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio, the day after he was shot while holding the airsoft gun - which resembles a semi-automatic handgun but fires pellets.

A 911 call was made to Cleveland Police shortly before 3.30pm on Saturday by a caller who told dispatchers twice that the gun was 'probably fake'.

In the recording, he says: 'There is a guy with a pistol ... It's probably fake, but he's pointing it at everybody.'

Towards the end, he adds: 'You know it's probably fake, but it's scaring the out of everyone.'

Deputy chief of police Ed Tomba said one officer fired twice after the boy pulled the 'fake weapon' - which did not have the orange safety indicator usually found on the muzzle of replicas.

He said that the boy did not make any verbal threats but grabbed the replica handgun after being told to raise his hands.

'That's when the officer fired,' Mr Tomba said.

The officer and his partner have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the officers are a first-year rookie and a 10-year department veteran.

Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said the officers were not told that the 911 caller suspected the gun might have been fake.

He said the officers were dispatched to the playground outside a city recreation centre and saw the pistol sitting on a table or bench.

He said they watched as the boy grabbed the weapon and put it in his waistband.

A lawyer for the boy's family, Timothy Kucharski, said Tamir went to the park with friends, but he did not know the details of what led to the shooting.

'I don't want to make a rush to judgement,' he said.

As part of the probe, the police department has collected surveillance video and other evidence and will present it to the county prosecutor's office, reports said.

Daniel Michael Margolis, a local criminal lawyer, told Sky News: 'Whether the gun was real or not is immaterial. The officers have to assume it's real, especially because it looks real.

'They're certainly not going to trust the observation of the 911 caller. There are also cases where orange safety indicators have been painted on real guns to make them look like replicas.'

awesome post!

cool...

now more blacks shall naturally be incited to access police as a greater threat and counter defense with more hate and violence against police...

and more people will be pitted against the police creating police to counter that threat with greater defense so greater force...

lovely.

Society in training!

When you are the law you can place yourself above it....and common sense

slap a body-cam on EVERY cop, so the citizens can see, from from HIS point of view, exactly how and why, he determined it necessary to use deadly force to bring an end to the situation facing him....that cam would in no way interfere with the performance of his duties, nor (sadly to say) would it change the outcome of the incident...

some officers purchase their own sidearm instead of using the one issued to them...if i was a peace officer i would seriously think about using my own money to purchase a body-cam and using it, for my own protection, if my department lacks funds to issue me one...

Thank you, I knew you would be the first to comment.

You know how many people steal and buy the Pellet and Air Soft guns that look like a standard handgun? 9 times out of 10 they do it so they can rob people.

On the ones with the orange tip they remove the orange to make it look real.

This boy looks so much like my son at his age. How heartbreaking for all involved

A tragic happening. This boy should have been told of the dangers even play gun can have. Maybe it's not fewer guns but better instructions of how to use them safely.

How does one play with

It doesn't matter how old you are, guns are deadly and if your waving one around and pointing it at people and it looks real well........

smiles...

indeed i am honored you knew...

then you probably didn't miss it be impossible to know whether i am truly unhappy with the post and events or truly happy about the post and events...

so wise response indeed...

wonder what truly the plans are for this little event by the big guys in cool suits...

probably just a fire cracker with a bad fuse event...

but then ya never know...

peace

Unlike the Brown and Martin cases, this is truly a tragic incident. I guarantee the two Officers are emotionally affected and probably feel guilty, the family's of all parties involved are devastated, feel guilty especially the parents if they bought him the gun etc.

All's we know is the kid was waving a gun around and pointing it at people, the people called the police and told the dispatcher what was going on and they thought it was a toy gun, that didn't get relayed to the Officer's, the gun looked real, not many twelve year olds play with toy guns as they have typically outgrown that kind of thing.

What is are the Officer's supposed to do. If they pull up on any suspect who has a gun waving it around and pointing it at them or other people they have no choice, especially if they are over 30 feet away since a Taser doesn't really go further then that and besides a bullet travels faster.

I just don't know why the dispatcher didn't relay that the people who called stated they didn't think it was a real gun. That is an important piece of information.

All thought I don't know if the outcome would have been any different had they told the Officer's that the witnesses thought it wasn't a real gun. Typically in a situation like that it's better safe then sorry.

lets see now...2 cops 2 real guns --- 1 12 year old kid 1 pellet gun....

indeed better safe than sorry is right.....

maybe they could have waited and possibly risked taking a stray bullet from a kid waving a gun around rather than opening fire with a shot to the torso.....

as far i know, nobody is drafted into the police force....you know the risks when you sign on....you get paid to take risks....so start takin' them....

better safe than sorry, indeed....

Let's see now. Some pellet guns look like regular hand guns and only when your up close can you tell the difference and age is irrelevant when there is a potential gun involved and waited and potential got an innocent victim or one of them getting shot, seriously wounded or killed?!?

They look about as real as they come!
Very little to distinguish them from the real thing!
US-Army uses them in Training!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft_gun



sadly,that Kid must have had a Deathwish,or something,to wave a Weapon around that is practically indistinguishable from the Real Thing!

When I was growing up,we were trained in the Use and Safety of Firearms,something that is sorely lacking under the "Liberal" Agenda!

in this case, if the cops hadn't fired their real guns, nobody would be dead...

deadly force should be used as a last resort not the first...

btw is that assault rifle the same kind the kid pulled from his waistband, or was it a small hand gun ??

Airsoft-Guns come in all sorts of Getups,as you'd have found out,if you had looked at that Link!

BTW,it isn't the Duty of a Cop to get himself shot,if he can prevent it!

if you would have read the OP you would know it was a hand gun and posted an appropriate picture of one...

and btw why have the cops take any risk at all ? why not just go whole-hog and have a sniper take him out from a hundred yards ?

Does police have evidence