'Why not taze him?'
A grieving father and the hacktivist website Anonymous are lashing out at Cleveland cops after young Tamir Rice, who was carrying a BB gun, was fatally shot by officers.
Tamir died in a local hospital on Sunday, one day after the tragic incident at the Cudell Recreation Center. The two officers involved in the tragic shooting have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The officer who fired the shots is a rookie cop, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
'Why not taze him?' Tamir's father Gregory Henderson told the Plain Dealer. '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.'
Anonymous also expressed outrage at the shooting, and claimed responsibility for shutting down the city's website early Monday.
'This rookie officer apparently was not trained,' Anonymous said in a video message to Cleveland police on Monday morning. 'The police department he works for is to blame for this lack of appropriate training. Officers are equipped with many non-lethal options such as Taser guns. Why did he not use a Taser on this child? Shooting him in cold blood was not necessary with these non-lethal options available.'
A man who had called 911 prior to the shooting told authorities that the boy's weapon was 'probably fake.'
'There's a guy in here with a pistol, you know, he's like pointing it at everybody,' a man told the 911 operator. 'The guy keeps pulling it in and out of his pants. It's probably fake, but you know what, he's scaring the s--- out of everyone.'
After arriving on the scene, an officer fired twice after Tamir pulled the fake gun but had not pointed it at the cops, Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said. Tamir did not make any verbal threats but had grabbed the toy gun after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said.
Jeff Follmer of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association said that using a Taser against someone with a gun would be unwise.
'We're not trained to shoot people in the leg,' he told the Plain Dealer. 'If we pull that trigger, we feel our lives are in danger.'
The Cleveland Police Department is looking through security footage from the rec center, and a grand jury will eventually decide whether the cop was justified in the shooting.
The BB gun that Tamir was carrying was lacking the orange safety indicator usually found on the muzzle, Tomba said.
An Ohio lawmaker said Sunday she will introduce legislation to require all BB guns, air rifles and airsoft guns sold in in the state to have fluorescent strips or bright colors. State Rep. Alicia Reece of Cincinnati models the bill after one signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown.
She cited another tragic incident three months ago, when a 22-year-old Ohio man was fatally shot by police while holding an air rifle at Walmart.
'This bill is but one small step in addressing this tragedy and helping to prevent future deadly confrontations with someone who clearly presents little to no immediate threat or danger,' Reece said in a news release obtained by Cleveland.com. 'With Saturday's deadly shooting of a 12-year-old in Cleveland, it is becoming crystal clear that we need this law in Ohio.'
With News Wire Services
dboroff@nydailynews.com
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