Cleveland Boy's Death From Police Gunshot Spurs Call For BB And Air Gun Restrictions

In the aftermath of a city police officer shooting a 12-year-old Cleveland boy holding a BB gun Saturday afternoon, and the boy dying early Sunday, a legislator has proposed legal restrictions on BB guns and similar toy guns and rifles.

The boy Tamir E. Rice, passed away early Sunday, after being shot by police at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. According to a Northeast Ohio Media Group report, a Cleveland officer shot Rice in the stomach about 3:30 p.m. Saturday at a recreation center in the city. Police said Rice was holding a BB gun at the time, but its tell-tale orange safety cap had been removed.

This past August, in a similar incident, a 22-year-old Beavercreek man was shot and killed while holding an air rifle outside a Walmart store in the Dayton area community.

In reaction to these two cases, the NEOMG reported Sunday afternoon, state Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Cincinnati, president of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, has called for restrictions on BB guns and air rifles, to lessen the chance of similar police shootings.

Reece’s legislation would require all BB guns, air rifles and similar guns sold in Ohio to be brightly colored or sport fluorescent strips.

“The shooting of John Crawford III devastated many people in our community and left us looking for answers,” Reece said in a news release quoted in the NEOMG story. “This bill is but one small step in addressing this tragedy and helping to prevent future deadly confrontations with someone who clearly presents little to no immediate threat or danger. With Saturday’s deadly shooting of a 12-year-old in Cleveland, it is becoming crystal clear that we need this law in Ohio.”

Tamir E. Rice, of Cleveland, the NEOMG reported, died at MetroHealth Medical Center early Sunday morning as a result of a gunshot he received the previous afternoon at the Cudell Recreation Center on West Boulevard.

Officers reportedly responded to the center after receiving a report of a “male threatening people with a gun,” police said in the NEOMG report. However officers weren’t informed the male didn’t have a real gun, according to the report.

The police account reported that the officers watched the boy place what looked like a handgun into the waistband of his pants. After police ordered him to put his hands up, he pulled the gun out, and that’s when officers fired two shots, according to the police account. At least one struck him in the stomach.

It wasn’t till after the shooting, according to police, that they realized Rice had been carrying a BB gun.

An attorney hired by Rice’s family has noted that the boy never pointed the gun at officers, and informed the media that he’s conducting his own investigation, according to the NEOMG report.

Another NEOMG report Sunday based on audio released by Cleveland police said that the man who called police about the boy wielding a gun did inform dispatch that the gun was “probably fake” and the “man” actually a juvenile. However, according to the report, those doubts apparently weren’t passed on to the responding officers.

The photo shows a BB pistol similar to the one the 12-year-old Cleveland boy was carrying when he was shot. However, the orange safety cap had been removed from the boy’s gun.