அமெரிக்காவின் கிளீவ்லண்ட் நகரில், விளையாட்டுத் திடல் ஒன்றில் கையில் துப்பாக்கி வைத்திருந்த 12 வயது கறுப்பினச் சிறுவன் ஒருவனை பொலிசார் சுட்டுக்கொன்ற சம்பவத்தின் வீடியோ பொலிசாரால் வெளியீடு.
SEE IT: Cleveland police release video showing moment Tamir Rice, 12, is fatally shot holding replica gun
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT. The boy was shot within two seconds after police arrived at a Saturday call in a Cleveland park, where a man reported to 911 that the ‘guy’ was pointing a ‘probably fake’ pistol. Tamir was shot by a rookie officer seconds after the patrol car pulled up and the officer gave three commands to show his hands, an official said.
A 911 dispatcher never told police officers responding to a Saturday call about an armed person in a Cleveland park that the man who called in the threat believed the pistol was fake.
Moments later, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by rookie police Officer Thomas Loehmann.
The boy, who was wielding a realistic-looking airsoft handgun, died Sunday at a local hospital.
The entire video of the shooting, along with the 911 call and police dispatch communications, was released Wednesday afternoon by the Cleveland department after increasing calls from a concerned community over the police killing of the baby-faced boy.
“We have conferred with the family and their representative and considered their wishes as to the path we have taken as to the release of the video and audio evidence,” Police Chief Calvin Williams told reporters Wednesday at a news conference.
It was just before 3:30 p.m. Saturday when a man called 911 from Cudell Park and recreation center on the city’s northwest side to report a guy, “probably a juvenile,” pulling a pistol out of his waistband.
“It’s probably fake but he’s scaring the s— out of me,” the caller told a dispatcher.
The man again says he suspects the gun is fake, but when the dispatcher radios a patrol car, she never mentions that detail or the suspect’s age.
Video taken from the park shows Tamir walking aimlessly around the park, at times pulling the gun, which fires plastic pellets, from his waistband.
He’s seen pointing it and pulling back the slide to cock the facsimile gun. At another point, he is talking on his cell phone, throwing a snowball and sitting on a park bench in a gazebo.
It’s unclear if he ever fires the pistol.
Eventually, the surveillance video shows a Cleveland police cruiser pull into the picture, driving on the grass, and coming to a stop feet away from the boy.
Tamir is seen with his hand in his waistband as the 26-year-old Lohman exits the patrol car and immediately fires the fatal shots in what police said was under two seconds. Both Tamir and the gun tumble to the ground as the officers secure the scene.
“Shots fired, male down, black male, maybe 20, black handgun,” one of the officers can be heard frantically saying on police radio. “Send EMS this way, and a roadblock.”
Loehmann joined the force on March 3, while his partner, 46-year-old Officer Frank Garmback, has been with the department for nearly seven years.
Both officers have been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
Loehmann gave three commands of ”show your hands” in a matter of two seconds after arriving on scene, Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba told reporters.
It’s unclear whether Tamir said anything to the officers before he was shot, Tomba said.
Every aspect of the incident is under investigation, Tomba said, including why the dispatcher never told officers that the gun could be fake, and why Officer Garmback pulled the cruiser up so close to the armed boy.
Police said the distance between Loehmann and Tamir was under 10 feet when shots were fired, though the medical examiner will be able to give an exact distance. On Monday, the medical examiner ruled Tamir’s death a homicide and said his death was caused by a gunshot wound to the torso with injuries to major vessels, intestines and pelvis.
The replica gun the boy was carrying was lacking the orange safety indicator usually found on the muzzle, according to Tomba.
Tamir’s family saw the video and consented to it’s release, even though it is evidence in the investigation, Tomba said.
“The release of the video is by no means an effort to explain the actions of the division of police or the young man,” Tomba said. “It was released in the spirit of being open and fair with our community.”