Tamir Rice's death has officially been ruled as a homicide.
According to The Washington Post, an Ohio medical examiner in Cuyahoga County declared the ruling after concluding the bullets fired at the 12-year-old from officer Timothy Loehmann hit his abdomen and damaged a vital organ. The sixth grader was killed after police mistook his Airsoft BB gun for an actual gun. Loehmann has previously stated that he didn't have a choice, but to shoot the child after he didn't listen to his verbal warnings.
Surveillance video was released of the November shooting that shows the officer shot the boy on arrival. Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President, Jeff Follmer, also stood by his officer and informed reporters that the dispatcher didn't let the officers know the gun might have been a toy. Follmer also said Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback, believed they were responding to a "gun run" with an older suspect.
"In their mindset, they're still thinking it's an older male, not a 12-year-old kid," he said. "That's the reality. That's what they see right there, right then."
Source: Yahoo News
