On Monday, after a grand jury failed to indict the officers involved in the killing of 12-year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Rice’s mother, Samaria, released a statement condemning the prosecutors for their “mishandling” of the case, and condemned the “corrupt” criminal justice system.
“As the video shows, Officer Loehmann shot my son in less than a second,” she wrote. “All I wanted was someone to be held accountable. But this entire process was a charade.”
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty told the press on Monday that surveillance video showed Tamir Rice reaching into his waistband for a toy gun. The officer shot Rice immediately, even though the 911 caller said the gun was “probably fake.” Knowledge of these details, however, did not sway the opinions of the grand jury or the prosecutor. “The outcome will not cheer anyone, nor should it,” McGinty said. “The death of Tamir Rice was an absolute tragedy. But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime.”
Samaria Rice’s full statement is below:
“My family and I are in pain and devastated by the non-indictment of officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback for the murder of our beloved Tamir. After this investigation—which took over a year to unfold—and Prosecutor McGinty’s mishandling of this case, we no longer trust the local criminal-justice system, which we view as corrupt.
Prosecutor McGinty deliberately sabotaged the case, never advocating for my son, and acting instead like the police officers’ defense attorney. In a time in which a non-indictment for two police officers who have killed an unarmed black child is business as usual, we mourn for Tamir, and for all of the black people who have been killed by the police without justice. In our view, this process demonstrates that race is still an extremely troubling and serious problem in our country and the criminal-justice system.
I don’t want my child to have died for nothing and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored. We will continue to fight for justice for him, and for all families who must live with the pain that we live with.
As the video shows, Officer Loehmann shot my son in less than a second. All I wanted was someone to be held accountable. But this entire process was a charade.
I pray and hope that the federal government will investigate this case.”
Supporters posted heartfelt messages on social media after the news was released, tweeting with the hashtag #ToMsRice, expressing solidarity with the Rices and denouncing the criminal system that allowed Tamir Rice’s killers go free:
