Following in the tragic footsteps of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, another young black boy has been killed by police after being pursued, along with his two friends, after police suspected the young teens were robbery suspects.
13-year-old Tyree King was killed in Columbus, Ohio after officers began chasing him and two others after receiving report from an individual who claimed that three black men had approached him, brandishing a gun.
Once police caught the three, the officers involved claim that King pulled a gun from his waistband. Upon seeing the gun – which they claimed to not realize was a BB gun – one Officer Bryan Mason fired on King, shooting him multiple times.
Considering how unreliable police testimony the day after a shooting has been in the past, this information is dubious at best.
King was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital where he was shortly pronounced dead.
Officers say that they still do not know of King and his friends were the suspects they were looking for or if they had committed any crime at all.
This is not the first instance of an individual dying at the hand of a police officer when brandishing a BB gun. In every instance, the officers were not charged, fired, or punished in any significant way.
The death of King should make anyone think back to a very similar death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014. The 12-year-old boy was shot multiple times by officers who were in no danger, and who murdered a pre-teen boy for the crime of playing with a toy.
You wonder why your NFL is getting crowded with political stances and social justice movements? This is why.
