COLUMBUS, Ohio — A black boy. A white Ohio police officer. A pellet gun that looked like a real weapon. And a deadly shooting.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A black boy. A white Ohio police officer. A pellet gun that looked like a real weapon. And a deadly shooting.
In a killing with unavoidable echoes of the Tamir Rice case out of Cleveland, a Columbus officer responding to a report of a $10 armed robbery shot a 13-year-old boy Wednesday night after the youngster pulled a BB gun from his waistband that looked “practically identical” to the weapon police use, authorities say.
On the morning after Tyre King’s death, Mayor Andrew Ginther appeared to choke up as he called for the community to come together and questioned why an eighth-grader would have a replica of a police firearm.
“There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets,” Ginther said Thursday. “And a 13-year-old is dead in the city of Columbus because of our obsession with guns and violence.”
While the case is still under investigation, police and city authorities rejected comparisons to the 2014 killing of 12-year-old Tamir in Cleveland.
“The only thing similar in nature is the age, race and outcome,” police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said. “The facts are not similar, and that must be reiterated.”
Officers investigating the robbery report east of downtown Columbus spotted three males who matched the description of the suspects. Two of the males ran away when officers tried to speak with them. The police chased the pair into an alley and tried to take them into custody. Tyre pulled out a gun with a laser sight, and an officer fired, hitting the boy repeatedly, police said. Tyre died at a hospital.
The officer was identified as Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran of the force.