Officials are urging calm as they brace for expected protests after a grand jury voted not to indict a white Cleveland police officer for fatally shooting a 12-year-old black boy who was carrying what turned out to be a pellet gun.
Small groups of protesters on Monday gathered outside the Cuyahoga County Justice Center and at the recreation center where Tamir Rice was shot by then-rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann in November last year. The size of those protests likely was reduced by a cold and steady rain that fell throughout the day.
County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced that Loehmann and his field training officer would not be indicted because of “indisputable” evidence that Tamir was reaching for what officers thought was a real gun tucked in his waistband, and urged those who disagreed with the grand jury to protest peacefully.
Photo: Reuters
“It is time for the community and all of us to start to heal,” McGinty said.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson made a similar plea, as did Tamir’s family. Attorneys for the family condemned the grand jury’s decision, but called on people to express themselves “peacefully and democratically.”
Deputies set up metal barricades outside the justice center after McGinty’s news conference on Monday afternoon.
Outside the recreation center, protesters chanted: “No justice, no peace!”
Cleveland resident Art Blakey held a sign that read: “Indict, Convict, Send Killer Cops to Jail.” He said he was not surprised by the grand jury decision.
“There never has been any justice in these police murders,” he said. “We’re supposed to swallow these things whole as if this is business as usual.”
Activists said they were planning a protest outside the center yesterday afternoon.
The grand jury had been meeting several times a week since the middle of October to hear evidence and testimony about the shooting.
McGinty said he recommended to the grand jury that Loehmann and patrolman Frank Garmback not be indicted, because they had no way of knowing that Tamir was carrying an airsoft-type gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets instead of the actual firearm it is modeled after, a Colt semi-automatic pistol.
There was no immediate comment from Loehmann after the decision was announced. An attorney for Garmback issued a statement that said the officers “acted within the bounds of the law.”
In a statement, Tamir’s family said it was “saddened and disappointed by this outcome — but not surprised.” It accused the prosecutor of “abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment.”
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