A white USA police officer has shot and killed a 13-year-old black boy in the state of OH while chasing down suspects of a reported robbery, after the teenager allegedly pulled out a pellet gun.
Advertisement
CORRECTS NAME FROM TYREE KING TO TYRE KING -Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs holds up a photo showing the type of BB gun that police say a 13-year-old boy pulled from his waistband just before he was shot and killed by police investigating an armed robbery report, on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio.
“Some of the officers at the scene were very disturbed about the fact that here we are out at this time of the night chasing [apparently] armed 13-year-olds”. The gun recovered at the scene was a BB gun.
It’s always been called into question the propriety of a police department investigating its own officer. The officer, who has not been identified, then fired at King, shooting him “multiple times”. 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.
A short time later, police said officers saw three people matching the descriptions of the suspects and approached them for questioning. As police chased them into an alley, one of the suspects, King, grabbed his BB gun and was shot, read the report.
Mason, the officer who police said shot King, had shot and killed someone while on duty before.
Two years ago there were two other incidents in OH of police fatally shooting people carrying BB guns.
The 19-year-old friend, Demetrius Braxton, told The Columbus Dispatch that King wanted to rob someone for money and that he was with Tyre when the shooting occurred.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says about four people are killed each year by BB or pellet guns.
In the December 2012 case, Mason shot a man who was holding another at gunpoint. City officials haven’t said whether the officers will be disciplined administratively.
The family also said reports of King’s actions before the shooting were allegations only at this point and called for an independent investigation.
“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets”, Ginther said Thursday. He said they did but Tyre got up and ran and was shot, the paper reported. Mason has been sent on leave while the shooting is investigated.
Braxton was interviewed by police but not charged. First, a black couple who witnessed the robbery apparently made the call to 911.
Tyre played several sports, including football, and was in the young scholars program at school, Walton said.
All fatal Columbus police shootings are presented for a grand jury to consider whether charges are merited.
“The Columbus Police Department has a history of investigating itself following these officer involved shootings and we believe that these investigations are inherently biased”, attorney Chanda L. Brown said.
“There they are right there, running back through the alley!”
Advertisement
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. Officers said the armed man refused orders to drop his weapon and was shot. They also describe Tyre as a teen who was small for his age.
