A 12-year-old boy has been shot dead by police in the US city of Cleveland, after brandishing what turned out to be a fake gun in a playground.<\/p>\n
Police say an officer fired two shots at the boy after he failed to obey an order to raise his hands.<\/p>\n
A caller reported the boy to police for scaring people with a gun but said that he did not know if it was real.<\/p>\n
One of the officers was in his first year on the local force, the other had more than 10 years of experience.<\/p>\n
‘Airsoft’<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The medical examiner for Cuyahoga County identified the boy as Tamir Rice.<\/p>\n Cleveland deputy police chief Ed Tomba said the boy was shot twice after pulling the gun from the waistband of his trousers. He died later in hospital.<\/p>\n The boy did not make any verbal threats nor point the gun towards the officers, Mr Tomba added.<\/p>\n Police said the weapon was an “airsoft” replica gun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol, adding that an orange safety indicator had been removed.<\/p>\n 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 told police.<\/p>\n But Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland police association, said the two officers at the scene were not told about the caller’s comments.<\/p>\n The BBC’s David Willis in Washington says an investigation is under way and both officers have been placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n He says there have already been calls for tighter controls on fake guns, with one local lawmaker – Alicia Reece – saying she intends to introduce legislation that would require fake guns sold in Ohio to be brightly coloured.<\/p>\n Cleveland’s police force has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, most notably over a high-profile car chase in 2012 that ended with two deaths and officers firing 137 shots.<\/p>\n The US Justice Department is currently conducting an investigation of the force’s pursuit and use-of-force practices.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A 12-year-old boy has been shot dead by police in the US city of Cleveland, after brandishing what turned out to be a fake gun in a playground. Police say an officer fired two shots at the boy after he failed to obey an order to raise his hands. A caller reported the boy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":67926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[14],"yoast_head":"\n