In a statement, Washington Post reports, Samaria Rice shared her utter “devastation” with the legal system for not indicting officers who shot and killed her 12-year-old son Tamir last November.
Officers Involved in the Shooting Death of Tamir Rice Will Not Face Charges
“I don’t want my child to have died for nothing and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored,” she said.
During the process of seeking justice for the officer who shot her son, Rice remained admant in her belief that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty “deliberately sabotaged the case” by “never advocating for [her] son.”
“As the video shows, Officer Loehmann shot my son in less than a second,” Rice continued. “All I wanted was someone to be held accountable.”
Tamir Rice was fatally shot by police last November while playing in a public park with a toy gun.
A bystander called 911 to report that a boy was playing with a gun but clarified later to the operator that it was “probably fake.” The description of the gun was never passed along to officers Timothy Loehmann and his partner Frank Garmback.
Loehmann fired his weapon at Rice two seconds after their arrival onto the scene. Rice died the next day in a local hospital.
An Ohio grand jury decided on Monday not to indict Loehmann or Garmback on any charges of criminal misconduct.