Columbus A 13-year-old boy was shot dead by police after he pulled out a firearm that was found to be a BB gun. He said the family believed Tyree being involved in an armed robbery would be “out of character”.
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Officers located three males, including King, matching the description of the suspects a short time later, police said. Two fled, and officers chased them into an alley, where Tyre pulled what appeared to be a gun from his waistband, police said, and an officer shot him multiple times.
When officers caught up to them, King allegedly pulled out a gun and was shot multiple times by an officer.
“It’s a weapon – it was used in a robbery”, Columbus police spokesman Sgt.
The coroner in Columbus said Friday that Tyre (ty-REE’) King’s autopsy was done but she isn’t yet sharing details, including where he was struck.
Police initially identified the boy as Tyree, but his family says it’s spelled Tyre.
The moment news of the shooting broke, the public began making instant comparisons to the November 2014 death of another black child with a toy gun, Tamir Rice. Others lamented what they see as officers shooting without justification.
U.S. police have fatally shot a teenage boy after they say he pulled a gun from his waistband, later confirmed to be a pellet gun.
He has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, in accordance with local rules.
A grand jury in 2015 chose not to indict the two responding police officers. Several police officers were at the school Thursday, and counselors were available to talk to students.
While angry messages flooded social media, Columbus officials called for calm during an investigation into the death. These shootings put the use of force by police into question and some of them have prompted protests against racial discrimination and obsession with guns. Tyre pulled out a gun with a laser sight, and an officer fired, hitting the boy repeatedly, police said.
King was taken to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in critical condition, and died shortly after.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, more than 150 people, including Tyre’s youth football teammates, gathered for the candlelight vigil near the area in the Near East Side neighborhood where the teen was killed.
“I don’t know how they would know that”, Jacobs said.
“Officers do not have the luxury of knowing if it’s a real gun or not”, union president Jason Pappas said.
Community members light candles during a vigil for 13-year-old Tyre King Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio.
Braxton told the paper that following the robbery the suspects were chased by police.
The male who had been with Tyree was interviewed and released pending further investigation, police said.
Mason is a “really, really good officer”, Jason Pappas, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, told the Columbus Dispatch. The victim told officers that a group of males had demanded money, threatening him with a gun, police said.
The family also said reports of King’s actions before the shooting were allegations only at this point and called for an independent investigation. The victim calmly said in his 911 call that he did not want a big deal made, but added that one of the suspects appeared to have a Ruger semi-automatic pistol.
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Rice was drawing an airsoft gun from his waist when Officer Timothy Loehmann, who is white, fired the fatal shots within two seconds of arriving outside a recreation center where the sixth-grader was, a prosecutor said.
