Protesters hit the streets after grand jury ruling in Tamir Rice case

The description of the gun was never passed along to officers Timothy Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback. The teenager, armed with a knife, was veering away from officers when Van Dyke opened fire.

Two outside reviews by an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and a Denver prosecutor conducted at McGinty’s request concluded in October that Loehmann was justified in killing Tamir.

Cleveland has already learned from its tragic mistake; Chicago has a long, long way to go.

The United State’s Attorney’s Office said Monday it will continue to monitor the OH investigation into Tamir’s death.

Rashad Robinson, executive director of ColorOfChange, one of the largest online civil rights organizations, said in a statement that the decision shows that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty, “doesn’t honor Black life or seek to hold officers accountable”. It turned out to be a pellet gun. The city also reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice this year to introduce numerous reforms, including an overhaul of the police department’s use-of-force policies.

“They run a big risk if they don’t”, Katz said. It is a awful indictment on our nation that there will be very few who can say they are in the least bit surprised by this result.

Although black men make up only 6 percent of the US population, they account for 40 percent, or 36 cases, of the unarmed people shot to death by police in 2015.

Shortly after Tamir Rice’s death in November 2014, the DOJ released a report that found widespread excessive use of force by police officers in Cleveland. After the grand jury “heard all the evidence and the applicable law, they were told our recommendation”, the prosecutor’s office said.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said Monday he recommended that no charges be filed against the officers. The family statement criticized McGinty’s handling of the case. The grand jury also declined to indict Garmback.

The family urged anyone who’s disappointed in the grand jury decision to express that “peacefully and democratically”. But McGinty said there was no way for the officers on the scene to know that. Tamir, at 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, could pass for a grown-up. It was missing the orange tip that is supposed to show that it’s not a real weapon.

“If we march today, maybe a kid doesn’t die tomorrow”, chanted a group of 30 protesters who met last night in front of the Cleveland recreation center where Rice was shot for playing with a toy gun just over a year ago.

He was also seen pointing the pistol at other children, Mr Meyer said. Williams was responding to questions about the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury decis… Tamir was holding a pellet gun when he was killed.

Tamir’s mother, Samaria, must live without her baby boy, a happy-go-lucky kid in a man-sized body. Tamir’s family had pushed for charges against the officers.

Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson said yesterday that the police department’s Critical Incident Review Committee will conduct an administrative review of the shooting to determine if the officers, the 911 operator or the police dispatcher should be disciplined for their actions. While supporting the Cleveland police officers from Ohio, McGinty said that both the guns looked functionally identical and hence both Loehmann and Garmback may have mistaken it to be real. It was “reasonable” to believe the officer who killed the boy believed Tamir was a threat, the prosecutor said, adding that the toy gun looked real. But he says there’s no way the officers could have known that.

Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced the grand jury’s decision Monday.

A grainy surveillance-camera video of the boy’s November 2014 shooting provoked outrage nationally, and together with other killings of black people by police in places such as Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, it helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement. Prosecutors showed a standard handgun side-by-side with a replica at the news conference.