Slain Cleveland Boy’s Toy Gun ‘Indistinguishable’ from Real Gun: Cops
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File photo. (blackred/Getty Images)(CLEVELAND) — The toy gun a 12-year-old was brandishing when he was fatally shot by police was “indistinguishable” from a real weapon, Cleveland police said on Monday.
Tamir Rice was shot and killed on Saturday at a recreation center after reports that he had a pistol and was waving it around. It turned out to be an “airsoft” gun and the orange tip at the end of the gun to indicate it was a toy had been removed, police said.
“Guns are not toys, and we need to teach our kids that,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said at a press conference Monday. “Our community needs to understand that.”
Police said they have offered to show Rice’s family surveillance video of what happened when he was shot. They declined, but representatives for the family viewed the footage. That video will eventually be released to the public, police said.
The officer was within 10 feet of the boy when he was shot, police said.
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