The police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November claims he fired his gun because Rice left him with no other option, according to newly released documents.
Over the weekend, an Ohio county prosecutor released the 224-page report—a culmination of a four-month investigation commissioned by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff—detailing officer and witness testimony of the shooting.
“He gave me no choice,” Officer Timothy Loehmann, who shot Rice within two seconds of arriving at the scene, allegedly told another officer immediately following the shooting. “He reached for the gun, and there was nothing I could do.”
Though Loehmann and his partner Officer Frank Garmback, who was present at the time of the shooting, refused to speak with investigators, other officers who arrived at the scene said that Loehmann was “distraught” once he realized that Rice was younger than he originally thought and that the “gun” that he was holding was actually a toy BB gun.
According to the report, witnesses didn’t hear the officer warn Rice before he began shooting. After Rice was shot, he was denied medical attention until an FBI officer, who happened to be nearby, approached the scene and began administering first aid. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died the following day.
The report has been passed along to prosecutors, and is expected to be presented as evidence to a grand jury.