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[h=4]Grand jury: No charges in Tamir Rice killing[/h]A Cleveland grand jury declined to bring charges in police shooting of boy, 12.
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A grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct in the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice. Cleveland officers mistook his toy gun for a real gun. VPC
Tamir Rice(Photo: Rice family)
A Cleveland grand jury declined Monday to bring charges in the death of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tamir Rice, a black youth with a toy gun who was shot by a white police officer 13 months ago.
"The outcome will not cheer anyone, nor should it," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said. He blamed the shooting on a "perfect storm" of human error<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and miscommunication.
The grand jury was asked to examine the actions of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rookie officer Timothy<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Loehmann and his training officer,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Frank Garmback, who responded<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to a report about a man with a gun near a recreation center.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A dispatcher did not tell them the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>caller thought it was probably a child with a fake gun.
Tamir, 12, likely meant to show the officers his gun was a toy that shot plastic pellets,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but there was no way the officers could have known that when they confronted him on a snowy day in November 2014,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>McGinty said. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said the dispatcher's failure to provide the information about the "fake gun" was key to the case.
McGinty said he agreed with the grand jury decision.
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"The actions of officers Garmback and Loehmann were not criminal," McGinty said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"The evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police."
The family of Tamir blasted McGinty in a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>statement, saying it was "saddened and disappointed... but not surprised" by the grand jury decision.
“It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment,” the family said in a statement released by their<span style="color: Red;">*</span>lawyers.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified.”
Gov. John Kasich called Tamir's death a "heartbreaking tragedy." But he urged the community not to "give in to anger and frustration and let it divide us."
The case was one in a series of police shootings nationwide that prompted Black Lives Matter protests.
Loehmann has said he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ordered Tamir to show them his hands. He said Tamir reached for his waistband and that he saw a gun and fired to protect himself and Garmback. McGinty said the evidence supported Loehmann's explanation.
Two outside reviews requested by McGinty, from a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>retired FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor, determined<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Loehmann<span style="color: Red;">*</span>exercised a reasonable use of force because he had reason to perceive Tamir<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as a serious threat. Those were released in October.
Earlier this month, lawyers for Tamir's family released their own report. It found that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tamir was not reaching for his waistband, and that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the officers rolled up and shot Tamir so fast he had no time to hear or respond to any orders they gave.
The family on Monday reiterated it's request that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Department of Justice investigate Tamir's death.
"The way prosecutor McGinty has mishandled the grand jury process has compounded the grief of this family," the statement said.
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