Cleveland police to release video of 12-year old shot with toy gun

Cleveland police planned to release surveillance video from an officer's fatal shooting of a 12-year-old boy who turned out to be carrying a replica gun.

A department spokeswoman said video and audio evidence would be released Wednesday afternoon, when police Chief Calvin Williams provides an update on the investigation.

Tamir Rice was shot Saturday by an officer responding to a call about someone with a gun near a playground. Police say Tamir was told to raise his hands, then reached into his waistband for what appeared to be a firearm. Police later determined it was an airsoft gun, which typically shoots tiny plastic pellets, but it was missing an orange safety indicator.

The family's attorneys saw the video Monday, a day after Rice died. They later called for the full footage to be released publicly.

City officials had been withholding the video, saying that it was evidence in the investigation and that they wanted to be sensitive to the family, the community and the officer, whom they described as distraught.

Police haven't discussed details of what the video shows, but Deputy Chief Edward Tomba said the footage is "very clear" about what occurred.

The shooting has led to an investigation of the officer's use of force and protests referencing this and other police-involved shootings.

On Tuesday evening, several hundred demonstrators marched down an exit ramp and temporarily blocked rush-hour traffic on a busy Cleveland freeway. Police diverted traffic but didn't take action against the protesters, who chanted phrases such as "Hands up, don't shoot" and "No justice, no peace."

The demonstration came as protesters across the country decried a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer who killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.

As The Christian Science Monitor reported, the hacktivist group, Anonymous, claimed that it shut down the city of Cleveland's website in retribution for the shooting, reports The Plain Dealer. 

In a video message posted on YouTube, Anonymous charges that an "untrained rookie officer" shot Tamir "in cold blood," and asks why the officer did not Taser the child.

"Police of the United States you will learn in due time once anonymous has shut down your sites that we will not stand for your ignorant untrained rookie cops," the message said.

State Rep. Alice Reece, a Democrat from Cincinnati and the president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, announced Sunday that she will introduce legislation requiring all BB guns, air rifles and airsoft guns sold in Ohio to be brightly colored or have prominent fluorescent strips.

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