The caller said the armed robber was a “black boy in a hoodie” and “the guys just took off running”, according to the audio.
Advertisement
The case started with a 911 call about the robbery. Sirens were heard moments later as police searched for the suspects. Then an unidentified witness overhears gunfire and tells a dispatcher: “He’s shooting him!”
Police said King was involved in a robbery and was carrying a BB gun that was “nearly identical” to the type of guns the Columbus PD officers carry, according to Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs.
Two fled to a nearby alley, and police followed, resulting in King pulling what appeared to be a real gun on the officers.
The police force said officers were called to a report of an armed robbery in east Columbus at about 7.45 p.m. and the male victim told them that a group of people approached him and demanded money and one of them had a gun. One gunman was shot dead by the police, and the other two are still on the run. Police investigators say the BB gun was an exact replica of a semi-automatic weapon that police use.
The officer was identified as Bryan Mason, a white, nine-year veteran of the department who had recently been assigned to the neighborhood where the incident took place.
As the Columbus Dispatch reports, Officer Mason was reportedly involved in the shooting death of an armed man four years prior, but was found to have “acted within policy”. In that case, the man was pointing his gun at another man, and refused orders to drop his weapon. In 2012, while responding to a 911 call at a Columbus home, he fatally shot an armed man, Weiner said.
The head of the local police union that represents Mason didn’t immediately respond to a message Thursday. “Upon further inspection, it was determined to be a BB gun”. “But as you can see, it looks like a firearm that could kill you”.
After being placed on administrative leave and investigated, Mader was terminated from the department in June for failing to “eliminate a threat”, thereby putting other officers at risk. “Unfortunately.it becomes necessary at times to defend themselves”, Jacobs told reporters. “This is the last thing that a police officer wants to do in their career”.
The family of the boy, in a statement through its lawyer, said officer’s version of events was in conflict with numerous witness accounts.
“The family is obviously distraught by the murder of Tyre”, attorney Chanda L. Brown said in the statement, which described Tyre as a typical 13-year-old boy who was active in football, soccer, hockey and gymnastics.
Tammy Fournier-Alsaada, with the People’s Justice Project, said they are here to mourn together, but also to push forward to find solutions in addressing violence and police-community relations. “An eighth grader involved in a very, very unsafe conduct”.
“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets”, he said on Thursday.
Organizers led the crowd in chanting the number 13 for the age of Tyre (ty’-REE) King, who was shot multiple times Wednesday evening. Police say Tyre pulled a BB gun that looked real out of his waistband. The Dispatch reported that police interviewed Braxton until about 1am on Thursday, and he was released pending further investigation.
An investigation revealed Rice had a replica gun that shoots plastic pellets.
Two years earlier, a police officer fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland while he had an airsoft gun. Evidence will automatically be presented to a grand jury to determine if the officer’s actions were justified or if charges are warranted.
Advertisement
It was “indisputable” that the boy was drawing the pistol from his waistband when he was shot, Tim McGinty, Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said at the time.
