Two of the males ran away when officers tried to speak with them. Police will need to try to confirm that through witnesses, but assuming for the moment the police version of events is accurate it’s pretty hard to argue Officer Mason should have hesitated after King pulled a gun that had already fooled three other people that night.
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When they caught up with them, police said, “one suspect pulled a gun from his waistband”. The officer that shot King is a nine-year veteran on the force.
Michael Brown, another unarmed black teenager, was also shot and killed on August 9, 2014, by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis.
Police say Mason was among a number of officers who responded to a call of an armed robbery on Wednesday night. The BB gun shown here – an Umarex 40xp – is the type of BB gun police say King carried.
“Our officers carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon”, said Jacobs, adding, “It turns out not to be a firearm, but as you can see, it looks like a firearm that can kill you”. Police say the boy, Tyre King, died at a hospital after the Wednesday evening shooting.
The lawyer for Tyre’s family has also called for a fair and independent investigation into the death.
Relatives are still grieving and working on the funeral arrangements, Sean Walton, an attorney for the family of Tyre, said.
Attorneys speaking for the family describe Tyre as a typical 13-year-old boy, saying he played football, soccer and hockey, participated in gymnastics and was in a young scholars program. He had a slight build and, if anything, was on the small side for his age, the attorney said. “He’s shooting them”, she said.
Columbus police have a critical incident response team that investigates police-involved shootings. He questioned why an eighth-grader would have a replica of a police firearm.
“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets”, he said on Thursday.
On July 5, police shot dead 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while 32-year-old Philando Castile was fatally shot by police in St. Paul, Minnesota, a day later. Rice, who was black, was carrying a pellet gun when Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann opened fire mere seconds after pulling up to a park.
“I just think it was bad circumstances that he had a gun”, Naderer says.
When police arrived, they found suspects who appeared to match the description of the report, yet two of the males in the group took off running. “Why didn’t they tase him?”
The weapon recovered from the scene was determined to be a BB gun with an attached laser sight, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said at a news conference yesterday morning (Sept 15).
The police chief said it was too soon to draw comparisons between Tyree’s death and Tamir’s death. Police in OH responding to a report of an armed robbery shot and killed a boy who they said pulled a gun from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun.
“We want the right answers, not quick answers”, she said.
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A grand jury concluded they reasonably believed it was a real gun and their lives were in danger, prosecutors said.
