White US policeman kills black boy holding BB gun
13-year-old shot multiple times
COLUMBUS: A white Ohio policeman responding to reports of an armed robbery fatally shot a black 13-year-old boy after he pulled out what appeared to be a weapon that was later determined to be a BB gun, police said on Thursday. The teen was shot multiple times when he drew what appeared to be a handgun from his waistband during a confrontation with officers in an alley on Wednesday in Columbus, the state capital, police said.
“We consider it a tragedy when something like this happens,” Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs told a news conference. “This is the last thing any police officer wants.” Jacobs identified the officer who shot King as Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran. Mason was placed on temporary administrative duty, pending an internal investigation. Police identified the victim as Tyree King, although a family lawyer said the boy’s first name was Tyre.
The family said in a statement released by a Columbus law firm that it retained to investigate the shooting that “numerous witness accounts are in direct conflict with the officer’s version of events”. The family also said reports of King’s actions before the shooting were allegations only at this point and called for an independent investigation. “The family is obviously distraught by the murder of Tyre,” attorney Chanda L. Brown said in the statement, which described him as a typical 13-year-old boy who was active in football, soccer, hockey and gymnastics. “They are shocked and indicate the actions described by the police are out of his normal character,” she said.
More than 150 people, including some of King’s family members, gathered for a prayer vigil on Thursday near where he was shot, the Columbus Dispatch reported. “My eyes are still swollen and my head still hurts,” King’s 13-year-old sister Marshay Caldwell said. “He’s really not coming back.” King’s death comes nearly two years after the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was black, by a white Cleveland, Ohio police officer who was responding to reports of a suspect with a gun in a city park.
An investigation revealed that Rice, who died a day after the shooting, had been seen holding a replica gun that shoots plastic pellets. Rice’s death became a rallying point for the Black Lives Matter movement and was one of a number of deaths that led to nationwide demonstrations against the use of excessive and sometimes deadly force against minorities, especially young black men, by police officers. On July 5, police shot dead 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while 32-year-old Philando Castile was fatally shot by police in St Paul, Minnesota, a day later.
In King’s death, detectives retrieved the weapon from the scene of the shooting and later determined it was a BB gun, which shoots small round pellets, with an attached laser, police said. “It looks like a firearm that could kill you,” Jacobs said, as she held up an image of the same type of BB gun. The incident began just before 8 pm EDT on Wednesday when police responded to reports of an armed robbery. The victim told officers that a group of males had demanded money, threatening him with a gun, police said. A short time later officers found three males, including King, matching the descriptions of the suspects, police said.