Officer says he told boy to show hands before fatal shots

A Cleveland police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old child in a park said in a signed statement released by prosecutors on Tuesday that he yelled for the boy to show his hands and saw him pull a gun from his waistband.

Garmback was Loehmann’s training officer that wet, snowy day when they responded to the 911 call.

“Officer Gamback and I were still yelling ‘show me your hands.’ With his hands pulling the gun out and his elbow coming up, I knew it was a gun and it was coming out…I fired two shots”, wrote Loehmann. The boy’s gun looked real but actually fired nonlethal plastic pellets.

Cleveland.com has requested copies of the statements. “I thought the gun was real”, Garmback wrote. Attorneys for Tamir’s family, however, said the prosecutor’s outside experts were biased and offered their own expert testimony – which concluded that the shooting was not legally justified. He and Clark both cite a 2008 case in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (which includes Ohio) ruled that “where a police officer unreasonably places himself in harm’s way, his use of deadly force may be deemed excessive”.

“For the prosecutor to allow police officers who are supposed to be targets of a criminal investigation to submit unsworn statements in response to grand-jury subpoenas requiring live testimony is yet again a stunning irregularity that further taints these proceedings”, the statement said.

“Loehmann, for example insists that he observed things and took action that would have been physically impossible for any human being to do in the under two seconds it took him to shoot a 12-year-old child”, Chandra said.

The same attorneys wrote to McGinty on November 27 reiterating their demand that he step aside to allow a special prosecutor to take over the case.

The suspect lifted his shirt reached down into his waistband. In the view of McGinty’s experts, by contrast, the alacrity with which Loehmann killed the boy counts in the officer’s favor, since the Supreme Court has said courts should be cautious about second-guessing the “split-second decisions” that police make in life-threatening situations.

He continued: “With his hands pulling the gun out and his elbow coming up, I knew it was a gun and it was coming out … the threat to my partner and myself was real and active”.

Garmback, meanwhile, provided a terse recollection that didn’t explicitly say that his partner shot Tamir. He says Loehmann is hanging in there, relying on his faith, family and friends to get him through this period.

Garmback stepped on the brakes, but the vehicle slid on the wet ground, at which point Loehman hopped out. “I was still yelling the command, ‘show me your hands'”.

Loehmann said he and his partner were still yelling “show me your hands”.

Previous documents released by the prosecutor’s office have included expert assessments that the officer’s decision to shoot the boy was reasonable.

Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, gave testimony before the grand jury on Monday.

Garmback said in his statement he believes the windows were up, but isn’t not sure.

Lawyers for the Rice family have repeatedly dismissed claims that Loehmann and Garmback could have given the 12-year-old sufficient warnings or commands, given the fraction of time that passed between the officers arriving on the scene and opening fire.