CLEVELAND (AP) — The latest on a Cleveland grand jury’s decision to not indict two police officers in the November 2014 shooting death of Tamir Rice (all times local):
2:45 p.m.
An assistant prosecutor in Cleveland says 12-year-old Tamir Rice was big for his age and easily could have been mistaken for someone much older.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer said Monday that officers responding to a report of someone brandishing a gun outside a recreation center weren’t told that the gunman could be a juvenile.
Meyer says Tamir was 5-foot-7, weighed 175 pounds and wore a men’s XL jacket.
Tamir was carrying a borrowed airsoft gun that looked like a real gun but shot nonlethal plastic pellets. It was missing its telltale orange tip.
Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced earlier Monday that a grand jury had declined to indict a rookie police officer or his partner for their roles in Tamir’s killing in November 2014.
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2:35 p.m.
An assistant prosecutor in Cleveland says security camera footage shows 12-year-old Tamir Rice pointing his pellet gun at people inside a recreation center before he was shot and killed by police.
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer said Monday that Tamir was seen repeatedly drawing the gun from his waistband and putting it back there the morning before officers arrived. He was also seen pointing the gun at other children.
Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced earlier Monday that a grand jury had declined to indict a rookie police officer or his partner for their roles in Tamir’s killing in November 2014.
A 911 caller said “the guy” with a gun was probably a juvenile and the gun was probably fake. Meyer says a dispatcher didn’t relay that to the officers.
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2:25 p.m.
The prosecutor in Cleveland says the mother of 12-year-old Tamir Rice was “broken up” when she learned that two officers wouldn’t be charged for their roles in his shooting death.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced Monday that a grand jury declined to indict a rookie police officer or his partner for their roles in the November 2014 shooting. Tamir was holding a pellet gun when he was killed.
McGinty says “it was a tough conversation” with Tamir’s mother. Tamir’s family had pushed for charges against the officers.
McGinty also says that the community should begin the healing process now that the grand jury has made its decision. He says lessons have been learned from the shooting, and the city has taken steps to ensure something similar doesn’t happen again.
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2:15 p.m.
The prosecutor in Cleveland says a “perfect storm of human error” led to the death of Tamir Rice, a black youngster who was holding what turned out to be a pellet gun when he was shot by police.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced Monday that a grand jury has declined to indict a rookie Cleveland police officer or his partner for their roles in the November 2014 shooting.
McGinty says newly enhanced video shows that it is “indisputable” that Tamir was removing his gun from his waistband when he was shot.
He says it’s almost certain that Tamir intended to hand it over to the officers or to show them that it wasn’t a real gun. But he says there’s no way the officers could have known that.
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2:05 p.m.
A grand jury has declined to indict a rookie Cleveland police officer or his partner for their roles in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a black youngster who was holding what turned out to be a pellet gun.
Patrolman Timothy Loehmann fatally shot Tamir Rice within two seconds of a police cruiser driven by Frank Garmback skidding to a stop near the boy in November 2014. The decision comes after a lengthy investigation by the Cuyahoga County sheriff’s office and county prosecutors and a grand jury presentation that began in late October.
Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced the grand jury’s decision Monday.
A video of the shooting captured by a surveillance camera provoked outrage nationally and made Tamir a central figure in a protest movement over police killings.
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1:30 p.m.
The prosecutor in Cleveland will hold a Monday afternoon news conference to make an announcement about the grand jury that has been considering whether to charge two Cleveland police officers for shooting 12-year-old Tamir Rice to death.
Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty is holding a 2 p.m. news conference about the shooting of Tamir, who was killed while carrying a pellet gun outside a city recreation center in November 2014.
Tamir was shot by patrolman Timothy Loehmann within two seconds of a police cruiser skidding to a stop near the boy. Loehmann and his partner had responded to a 911 call about a man waving a gun. Tamir was carrying a borrowed airsoft gun that looked like a real gun but shot nonlethal plastic pellets.
The grand jury has been hearing evidence and testimony since mid-October.
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