Two seconds, that's how long it took, from the time the police car stopped and Tamir crumples to the ground with a gunshot to the stomach. In this video, it happens at about 4:35.
12 Year Old Tamir Rice Shooting Video Police officials release surveillance video that captures a Cleveland police officer fatally shoot 12-year-old Tamir Rice Saturday at a West Side recreation center. Published on Nov 26, 2014
Link to
video on YouTube.
EDITOR'S NOTE: WKYC also directly spoke to the attorney representing the boy's family who wish to display the video in its entirety.
Police responded to the Cudell Recreation Center on Saturday when a man called 911 to report somebody was waving a gun around. The audio of the call was played at the news conference.
Listen to the audio of the
911 call here.
"The guy keeps pulling it out," the 911 caller continues. "It's probably fake, but you know what, he's scaring the (expletive) out of (inaudible). ... He's sitting on the swing right now, but he keeps pulling it in and out of his pants and pointing it at people. Probably a juvenile, you know? … I don't know if it's real or not, you know?"
Family
friend, Greg Henderson:
"That's my super hero," said Henderson. "He liked to play basketball. He's very artistic, he's a smart, young child. He's 12 years old. He was just big for his size. He uses his manners. He's not disrespectful. He respects his mom, he treats his mom as the queen."
This child did not need to die.
The following statement is from Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner, the parents of Tamir:
We respectfully request that Mayor Frank Jackson and the City of Cleveland Division of Police release the complete video of the incident involving our son, Tamir E. Rice, and two unnamed patrol officers on Nov. 22, 2014.
The news of Tamir's death has devastated our family. Tamir was a bright young man who had his whole life ahead of him. This is a tragedy in our eyes.
He was a loving brother. He was a grandson. He was a nephew and cousin. His favorite sport was basketball. Tamir often visited the Cudell Recreation Center to play with friends. Most of all, he enjoyed being around people. Everyone loved him.
The holiday season begins this week. Instead of the love, fellowship and joy the season brings to many families, we will be mourning the loss of Tamir. We looked forward to spending Thanksgiving with Tamir as a family. His mother's birthday is on Christmas Eve. Now, she won't have the opportunity to share it with her son. We feel he did not deserve to be taken away from us.
While we request the release of the complete video, we also ask for the media to give our family privacy as we continue to grieve and learn about what happened. We feel the actions of the patrol officer who took our son's life must be made public.
It is our prayer and request for citizens in the City of Cleveland and throughout Northeast Ohio to remain calm at this time. We ask for the public to demonstrate peacefully.
Though the hurt our family feels is too painful for words to describe, we still have faith in the justice system. We thank the community for their prayers, encouragement and support. It has helped us during this difficult time.
My rant:
When 911 gets a report of a possible toy gun, the protocol should be to investigate before approaching the subject. Binoculars or a cheap zoom lens will do the trick in under ten seconds. How hard is that?
Furthermore, police forces should be prepared to save lives, not shoot anyone "just in case" a gun is real. Train and test cops to know what the popular toy guns look like. Keep a database of photos of BB/toy/Airsoft guns — and what they look like when modified by foolish kids. Make the cops study them so they don't kill children over a toy!
Like I said, I think toy guns should be illegal. But they're not, so it's the cops responsibility to deal with them in a non-lethal way.
Is it a shock to anyone in America that young boys think guns are cool? Hell, I bet most cops had toy guns as a kid! In this video, Tamir looks like he's pretending to be a cop!
The whole damn toy gun should have been orange, not one orange shield that could be snapped off easily while leaving the gun in tact. SMH. Manufacturers make them easily removable because they're more marketable that way.
Look at all the how to videos showing how easy it is to remove the orange markers so ...um, your toy airsoft gun can look cool, apparently?
Common sense dictates that if you're going to embellish a toy gun to ensure it looks like a toy, that embellishment should be crucial to its function. If the trigger itself was neon orange, kids wouldn't remove it. Isn't that the point of adding neon orange in the first place?
What's worse than the manufacturers sloppy application of this safety feature is that the law doesn't require it. Gee, who do you think lobbied for that?
Although airsoft guns in the United States are generally sold with a 6mm (0.24in.) or longer orange tip on the barrel in order to distinguish them from real firearms, this is not required by federal law.