Police shoot 12-year-old schoolboy with 'fake gun' dead

POLICE in shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who was brandishing what turned out to be a replica gun.

Officers in Cleveland, Ohio, were called to the scene after reports that a person was waving a gun in the park on Saturday.
Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officer fired twice after Tamir Rice pulled the fake weapon - which was lacking the orange safety indicator usually on the muzzle - from his waistband.
The youngster did not make any verbal threats toward the officer or point the gun, but reached into his waistband and grabbed it after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said.
“That’s when the officer fired,” he said.
Police said the weapon was an “airsoft” type replica gun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol.
The shooting comes as residents in Ferguson, Missouri, wait for a grand jury to return a decision on whether to charge a white policeman over the shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown this summer.
The man who dialled 911 told emergency dispatchers that the boy was on a swing set and pointing a pistol that was “probably fake” and scaring everyone. The caller said the boy was pulling the gun in and out of his trousers.
“I don’t know if it’s real or not,” the caller said.
According to Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, the officers were not told the caller thought the gun might be fake.
The officer called to the park saw the pistol sitting on a table, and watched the boy grab it and put it in his waistband, Follmer said.
An attorney for his family, Timothy Kucharski, said he had gone to the park with friends on Saturday afternoon, but the lawyer did not know the details of what led to the shooting.
“I don’t want to make a rush to judgment,” he said.
The police department is investigating the shooting but Kucharski said he wants to talk to witnesses himself and get more facts.
“We’re ultimately going to find out what happened,” he said.

I seriously hope they do