Two Cleveland, Ohio police officers who were involved in the shooting death of 12 year old Tamir Rice last November have stated that they believed that the child was a grown man with a real gun rather than an adolescent with an air pistol, according to their statements offered to the public by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office.
Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehman’s statements to the Sheriff’s Department of Cuyahoga County were made public yesterday for the first time since the shooting last year. Loehman, who is just a rookie officer still on probation, kept his statement a little more than a page long, saying,
“The suspect had a gun, had been threatening others with the weapon and had not obeyed our commands to show us his hands. This was an active shooter situation.”
The video of Loehman firing the two shots that killed the 12 year old shows that the officer fired the fatal shots within two seconds of exiting the vehicle, but both officers claim that they yelled to Rice “show me your hands”. Garmack’s statement had no mention of Rice being shot.
Both officers stated that they believed that 12 year old Rice was at least 18 years old.
A grand jury is currently reviewing the case and will decide whether to indict the officers for any potential wrongdoing.
