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."
An Ohio state legislator, Alicia Reece, plans to introduce a bill that would make require all BB guns, air rifles and airsoft guns sold in Ohio to be brightly colored .

Source: yahoo

*these shootings are becoming too frequent now like they are gradually exterminating blacks*

Why always Blacks.

yuncka:
Why always Blacks.

It's really disheartening... And to think it's just a 12 years old. At most they could have used a tazer on him. Not shooting him twice like he's a confirmed Street thug.

chinkichun:

It's really disheartening... And to think it's just a 12 years old. At most they could have used a tazer on him. Not shooting him twice like he's a confirmed Street thug.

Its sad o. Poor boy should have droped that gun sharp sharp when confronted. Na wa o. All his parents efforts, just gone like that. Lets see how this one ends.