A 12-year-old Cleveland boy died one day after he was shot by a police officer who responded to a call about a boy pointing a gun at a playground. The man who called 911 told the dispatcher that the gun was “probably fake” and it was scaring everyone. But the dispatcher did not pass that information on to responding officers.
Tamir Rice died Sunday morning of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. His shooting death raised questions about why police shot the child rather than tase him with a stun gun.
From NBCNews:
A man who called 911 told dispatchers the boy was on a swing set and pointing a pistol that was “probably fake” and scaring everyone — but officers weren’t told the caller thought the gun might not be real, the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association told The Associated Press.
Tamir’s father, Gregory Henderson, questioned why police chose to open fire instead of use a stun gun on his son. “Why not tase him? You shot him twice, not once, and at the end of the day you all don’t shoot for the legs, you shoot for the upper body,” Henderson told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Tamir — who was shot in the torso — died of his wounds on Sunday morning.
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