Officials in Columbus, Ohio, appealed for calm, patience and investigative help Thursday, hours after a white police officer fatally shot a 13-year-old black boy who had apparently brandished a firearm that was later determined to be a BB gun.
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“Tyre was a child who was loved and cherished by his family”, attorney Chanda L. Brown said.
The mayor cited “easy access to guns, whether they are firearms or replicas”, as a serious problem, adding, “A 13-year-old is dead in the city of Columbus because of our obsession with guns”. A pastor led the crowd in prayer and said what happened to King wasn’t right. Their coach described the first-year player as someone with a “smile that could light up the room”.
The lawyers say allegations about Tyre (ty-REE’) King can’t be considered fact until there’s a “thorough, unbiased investigation”.
Mr Walton has called for an independent investigation.
Demetrius Braxton, 19, who was with King when the police encountered them, told The Columbus Dispatch the BB gun looked like a real gun. He said Tamir was trying to either hand the weapon over to police or show them it wasn’t real, but the patrolmen had no way of knowing that.
Attorneys who represent the teen’s family released a statement saying what police described is “out of his normal character”.
“My eyes are still swollen and my head still hurts”, King’s 13-year-old sister Marshay Caldwell said. Police say Tyre pulled a gun from his waistband, and an officer shot him several times.
Loehmann, who’d been called there after a 911 caller reported seeing someone with a pistol that might have been fake, said he thought the boy appeared older and had a real gun. Police are still searching for the other suspects.
According to the Dispatch, authorities say that Tyre and others robbed a man at gunpoint for $10 before running away.
Mason, the officer who police said shot King, had shot and killed someone while on duty before.
Groups in Columbus rallied again in July when the issue of violence involving police was pushed back into the national consciousness after officers fatally shot black men in Baton Rouge and near St. Paul, Minnesota, and a gunman killed five Dallas police officers.
“I thank God that I had an opportunity to meet Tyre and spend time with him”, Bell said. “Why didn’t they tase him?” Attorney Sean Walton declined to discuss any previous interaction Tyre had with police, but he emphasized Tyre didn’t have any violent criminal history.
The case started with a 911 call about an armed robbery Wednesday night.
Detectives found a BB gun, which shoots small round pellets, with an attached laser site at the scene, police told the station. Evidence will automatically be presented to a grand jury to determine whether the officer’s actions were justified.
“Our officers carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon”, she says.
The police chased the pair into an alley and tried to take them into custody.
There was no chase in Tamir’s case. A caller reported someone pointing a gun at people near a recreation center. In her press conference, Jacobs repeatedly referred to Tyre as a “young man”, and noted that, despite the “tragedy” of his death for police, “Unfortunately, because of the things that are happening out on the streets, it becomes necessary at times to defend themselves”.
“At least 34 people who were killed by police this year were carrying non-lethal firearms, such as pellet or toy guns that authorities mistook for lethal weapons” it said.
He was shot in a Columbus alley around nightfall Wednesday. A caller reported someone pointing a gun at people near a recreation center, and a rookie officer shot Tamir nearly immediately after his police cruiser stopped nearby. Police chief Kim Jacbos say it’s important to let the investigation play out and avoid comparisons to the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
He died at a hospital.
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Tyre was black. The officer is white and a nine-year veteran of the force. He was shocked to learn about the shooting, and like everyone at the vigil that night he’s eager for more details about what exactly happened. Officers had been pursuing him and because he matched the description of an armed robbery suspect, police said.
