Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty announced Monday that neither police officer on the scene would be indicted in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who had a toy gun.
Calling Rice's death "a perfect storm of human error" but not a crime, McGinty focused heavily on Officer Timothy Loehmann's belief that Rice's gun was real — and that Rice appeared older than 12 — in the two seconds before he fired at the boy.
The 911 dispatcher didn't relay to the responding officers that the gun was probably fake and that Rice seemed quite young, McGinty said. He also added that the Rice shooting may not have happened at all if toy manufacturers made fake weapons that "screamed toy."
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Here's a side-by-side look at Rice's fake weapon (which was missing its orange tip) next to a real one. Julie Kliegman
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