Following an Ohio grand jury’s decision not to indict the two police officers who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, his mother, Samaria, is still “mad as hell.”
In an appearance on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Huffington Post reports, Rice revealed the struggle she now faces coping with the loss of her son.
Tamir Rice’s Mother ‘Saddened and Devastated’ by Grand Jury Decision
“Due to the corrupt system, I have a dead child,” she said. “I felt as if breath has been taken out of my body once again.”
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.
“He was full of life and laughter. Tamir had the potential to be anything in the world,” Rice added. “But Officer Timothy Loehman and Frank Garmback didn’t even give him a chance.”