It has been one year since 12-year-old Cleveland boy, Tamir Rice, was fatally shot by the police. Rice had been playing with a pellet gun when someone called 911. Based on the surveillance footage, the white officer appears to have shot the boy before ordering him to drop the weapon and raise his hands.
A year later, “a grand jury is hearing testimony to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against the rookie patrolman who shot Tamir and his training officer,” reads ABC News. “Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty has said he hasn’t reached any conclusions about charges” and the community is beginning to demand answers.
“There has been no reconciliation, and no accountability for his loss of life,” Tamir Rice’s cousin LaTonya Goldsby told ABC news. “He was a child. He wasn’t a thug. He wasn’t a gangbanger. He wasn’t any of those things that they tried to portray him to be.”
Criticism also surrounds Prosecutor McGinty for dragging out the trial and tastelessly releasing the footage of the killing.
One Cleveland representative stated that the decision is taking far too long, but she is glad that at least the case has moved to a grand jury.
A candlelight vigil was held today November 22, 2015 and the family of the boy held a private commemoration yesterday at the local recreation center. The anniversary inspired town hall meetings to continue the discussion of the case and its upcoming trial, as well as the general and pervasive problem of police brutality targeted at the black community.