12-year-old Tamir Rice shot & killed by police, never had a chance

A 12-year-old has become yet another victim killed by police. Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a rookie Cleveland police officer for holding a toy gun.

Rice was given no warning, and was shot immediately when police arrived on the scene.

Today, Cleveland police have released surveillance video that shows:

• Rice walking around with and waving a pellet gun and then
• being fatally shot by a rookie officer seconds after he arrived on the scene.

According to NBC News:

A 911 caller, who was sitting in a nearby gazebo, told police several times that the weapon was probably a fake, but the dispatcher did not relay that information to the responding officers, referring to it only as “a gun,” police tapes show. Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officers believed they were on a “gun run.”

The caller eventually left, and Tamir sat down in the gazebo before Officers Timothy Loehman, 26, and Frank Garmback, 46, pulled up in a squad car.

Police circled a frame of the video in red that shows Tamir moving his hand — apparently to signal the moment they say the youth reached for the pellet gun.

Loehman shot him immediately after leaving his police car, at a distance of about 10 feet, the video shows. Then he ducked behind the car as Garmback. A training officer with eight years on the force, jumped out of his seat.

A grand jury will decide whether either officer will be charged for the death of Tamir Rice.