On November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, a twelve-year-old African-American boy, was fatally shot by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white police officer with the Cleveland Division of Police , at the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Rice was carrying a replica toy gun, which lacked the orange-tipped barrel that would have indicated it was a toy. The incident occurred when Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, responded to a 911 call reporting a male with a gun at the park.
The caller mentioned that the gun was probably fake and that the male was probably a juvenile, but this information was not relayed to the officers.
Upon arriving at the scene, Loehmann and Garmback reported that they yelled "show me your hands" through the open patrol car window. Loehmann stated that it appeared Rice was trying to draw the gun, and he shot Rice twice, hitting him once in the torso. Rice died the following day at the hospital. Surveillance video of the incident was released four days after the shooting.
The Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office completed their investigation in June 2015 and turned their findings over to the county prosecutor. A grand jury declined to indict the officers, citing that Rice was drawing what appeared to be an actual firearm. In December 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they found insufficient evidence to support federal criminal charges against the officers.
Rice's family filed a lawsuit against the two officers and the City of Cleveland, which was settled for $6 million in 2016. The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing by the city. The shooting sparked protests and calls for police reform, and it became a symbol in the Black Lives Matter movement.
Despite the settlement and public outcry, neither Loehmann nor Garmback faced criminal charges for Rice's death. Loehmann was fired in 2017 for lying about his work history, while Garmback remained employed as a patrol officer.
The tragic death of Tamir Rice continues to resonate, highlighting issues of police use of force and the need for systemic changes in law enforcement practices.
