And a deadly shooting.
Advertisement
Police in OH responding to a report of an armed robbery shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who they said pulled a gun from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun.
Ginther called the child’s death troubling and said it should be a “call to action for our entire community”.
“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets”, the mayor said.
On July 5, police shot dead 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., while 32-year-old Philando Castile was fatally shot by police near St. Paul, a day later.
As authorities investigate the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old black boy, Tyre King, by a white police officer after a report of an armed robbery, details are emerging about him.
“The only thing similar in nature is the age, race and outcome”, said Columbus police spokesman Sgt. “There are allegations that have been made regarding his actions, and those allegations can not be taken as factual until a thorough, unbiased investigation has taken place”, he said, adding, “There are multiple witnesses that we have been made aware of that do not corroborate the current narrative”. Their coach described the first-year player as someone with a “smile that could light up the room”.
Police allege that King and another unidentified male were running from two officers responding to an armed robbery call.
The police chased the pair into a nearby alley and tried to take them into custody.
The young victim, an eighth-grader identified as Tyre King, was shot after he pulled “what looked like handgun from his waistband as officers pursued him and two other robbery suspects”, police said.
Officer Mason is a nine-year veteran of the Columbus police.
Jacobs said the officer involved has been placed on administrative leave for one week. A call to the head of the police union representing him was not immediately returned. Sirens were heard moments later as police searched for the suspects.
But Chief Jacobs said it was too early to compare Tyree’s shooting to Tamir’s – even though both were young black men with toy guns shot by white police officers.
“Our officers carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon”, she said. “But as you can see, it looks like a firearm that could kill you”.
The lawyer for Tyree’s family has also called for a fair and independent investigation into the death.
Tyre had three sisters and a baby brother, said another family attorney, Sean Walton.
Authorities said it wasn’t clear if the shooting was caught on surveillance or cellphone video.
Columbus police officers do not yet wear body cameras.
The station reports after police interviewed the victim of the armed robbery, officers approached three men nearby that matched the suspect description given by the victim.
A local resident, Chris Naderer, said he witnessed the officers chasing the boys and then he “heard gun shots, five, 10 seconds afterwards”. A rookie officer shot the boy nearly immediately after pulling up in his cruiser. They provided no further information about him.
A grand jury concluded they reasonably believed it was a real gun and their lives were in danger, prosecutors said.
King was shot multiple times by the officer and transported to Nationwide Children’s Hospital where he died from his injuries around 8:30 p.m. Mason shot King, police said, after he pulled what appeared to be the handgun from his waistband.
Associated Press reporters Andrew Welsh-Huggins and Mike Householder in Columbus, Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Mark Gillispie in Cleveland and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in NY contributed to this report.
Advertisement
This item has been corrected to show the boy was part of a youth football team, not a school football team.
