Grand jury will not file charges in Tamir Rice death

Watch Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty at a press conference above.

Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty said Monday that a grand jury would not file charges in the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by a Cleveland police officer last year.

Rice was carrying a pellet gun on Nov. 22, 2014 when he was shot by Officer Timothy Loehmann. The incident was a “perfect storm of human error,” McGinty said at a press conference Monday.

In a press conference, prosecutors laid out the chain of events that day, beginning with a caller who reported “a guy with a pistol” at the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland. The caller noted the gun was “probably fake,” a fact that the dispatcher did not relay to police, prosecutors said.

Loehmann and officer Frank Garmback drove to the recreation center to respond to the active shooter report. Both officers have stated that they saw Rice beginning to reach for a gun, a statement that has been disputed by a forensic expert the Rice family hired to investigate the killing. McGinty said in the press conference Monday that Rice may have reached for it in order to turn it over to officers.

Watch Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson and Cleveland Police Department Chief Calvin Williams make a statement.

Rice’s death drew nationwide outrage last fall, and shortly after the killing Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Cleveland Division of Police showed a “pattern and practice of using excessive force.”

In June, a Cleveland judge found probable cause on charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide, negligent homicide and dereliction of duty against Loehmann.

Cleveland mayor Frank G. Jackson said Monday that the city was “affording due process to everyone involved in this situation.”

Rice’s family said in a statement Monday that they were “saddened and disappointed by this outcome–but not surprised.”