Activists marched in Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon to protest the police shooting last year of a 12-year-old black boy named Tamir Rice, and a grand jury's decision on Monday not to indict the officers involved.
The decision came after a Cuyahoga County investigation that lasted more than one year. The grand jury first met in October.
"The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy," Timothy McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said during a press conference. "But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime."
March headed down to Ontario @clevelanddotcom #TamirRice pic.twitter.com/UfZD6jlkt3— Jane Morice (@janemorice) December 29, 2015
Protest happening in the street right in front of my office. #TamirRice pic.twitter.com/awvPVsHCMQ— Nick Harley (@Mick_Marley) December 29, 2015
Video of the shooting shows that officer Timothy Loehmann got out of a police car and fatally shot Rice in less than one second. Rice had been playing with a fake gun in a park.
Editor's Note:The following video is graphic, showing a young boy being shot by police.
Rice's family lawyer has said the video should be damning enough to warrant criminal charges, but McGinty argued that the officers were misinformed leading up to the shooting.
A 911 caller told police that Rice's gun was probably fake and that Rice was probably a juvenile. But McGinty said neither Loehmann nor officer Frank Garmback, who drove the police car, knew any of that at the time.
Prosecutors also took pains to show the similarities between Rice's fake weapon and an an actual gun.
Tamir's gun (toy) vs. actual Colt M1911... #TamirRice pic.twitter.com/b7pc0sIMHD— Corrina Pysa (@CorrinaPysa) December 28, 2015
Loehmann, who had previously resigned from a separate police department after an emotional breakdown during firearms training, said he had shouted for Rice to drop the fake weapon in the moments before he fired. But Garmback has said the car's windows were rolled up, and Loehmann took less than a second to pull the trigger.
Rice's family seemed unsurprised by the grand jury's decision. In a statement released after the press conference on Monday, the family said McGinty had abused and manipulated the grand jury into voting against indicting the officers.
The Department of Justice is still conducting its own investigation of the incident.