Cleveland officer won’t face charges

CLEVELAND — A grand jury Monday declined to indict a white rookie police officer in the killing of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old who was shot while playing with what turned out to be a pellet gun.

In explaining the decision, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said it was “indisputable” that the boy was drawing the pistol from his waistband when he was gunned down. McGinty said Tamir was trying to either hand the weapon over to police or show them it wasn’t real, but the officer and his partner had no way of knowing that.

“Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police,” McGinty said.

He said Officer Timothy Loehmann was justified in opening fire: “He had reason to fear for his life.”

Tamir’s family criticized the decision but echoed the prosecutor in urging those who were disappointed to express themselves “peacefully and democratically.”

Barricades were set up outside a Cleveland courthouse in case of protests, and about two dozen people gathered in the cold rain at the recreation center where Tamir was shot, some holding signs with photos of the boy and others killed by police in the U.S.

A grainy surveillancecamera 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, Mo., and New York, it helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement.

There was no immediate comment from Loehmann or his partner, who also was not charged.