COLUMBUS, Ohio: The Latest on the fatal police shooting of a 13-year-old boy in Ohio (all times local):
3:40 p.m.
Police records say an Ohio officer’s fatal shooting of a 13-year-old with a BB gun happened during a chase of suspects stemming from reports of an armed robbery over $10.
Columbus police say Tyree King was shot in a confrontation in an alley Wednesday night after running from officers investigating a reported armed robbery. Police say he pulled a real-looking weapon from his waistband and was shot repeatedly.
In a recorded 911 call, the robbery victim calmly indicates that he wasn’t going to make a big deal over $10 but that other witnesses called to report what happened.
Sirens are heard moments later as police search for the suspects. Then an unidentified witness overhears gunfire and tells a dispatcher: “He’s shooting him! Oh, my God!”
No one else was hurt.
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2:30 p.m.
The Ohio policeman who fatally shot a 13-year-old boy who had a pellet gun also shot and killed a man in 2012.
Officer Bryan Mason is a nine-year veteran of the Columbus police. He shot 13-year-old Tyree King in a Wednesday night confrontation after Tyree ran from officers investigating a reported armed robbery.
The head of the local police union that represents Mason didn’t immediately respond to a message Thursday.
In the December 2012 case, Mason shot a man who was holding another man at gunpoint. Officers said the armed man refused orders to drop his weapon and was shot.
The Columbus Dispatch reported that investigators concluded Mason acted within policy in that case.
Police said Thursday that they couldn’t immediately provide other information from Mason’s personnel record.
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1:40 p.m.
An attorney for the family of a 13-year-old Ohio boy fatally shot by police is calling for a fair and independent investigation into his death.
Sean Walton on Thursday declined to discuss any previous interaction Tyree King had with police, but he emphasized that Tyree didn’t have any violent criminal history.
Tyree was shot Wednesday night after running from officers investigating a reported armed robbery. Police say Tyree pulled a BB gun that looked real out of his waistband.
Walton says the family believes Tyree being involved in an armed robbery would be “so out of character” for him. Walton says the eighth-grader played football and was in the young scholars program at school.
Walton says Tyree had a slight build and was perhaps even on the small side for his age.
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12:35 p.m.
Police in Ohio are investigating another case in which a white policeman fatally shot a black boy who had a pellet gun, but Columbus’ police chief says it’s too soon to draw comparisons to the Cleveland death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
Chief Kim Jacobs said Thursday that investigators don’t yet have enough facts about the Wednesday night death of 13-year-old Tyree King to know how it relates to other cases.
Police say his weapon looked real. Police say Tyree was shot in a confrontation in a Columbus alley after running from officers investigating a reported armed robbery.
There was no chase in Tamir’s case. A caller reported someone pointing a gun at people near a recreation center. A rookie officer shot Tamir almost immediately after his police cruiser stopped nearby.
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11:45 a.m.
Police say a 13-year-old boy who was fatally shot by an Ohio officer after a chase had a pellet gun that looks like a real police firearm.
He was shot in a Columbus alley around nightfall Wednesday. Police responded to the area on a report of an armed robbery and spotted three males that matched descriptions of the alleged robbers. Police say two of them fled and were chased into the alley, where the boy pulled the weapon from his waistband and was repeatedly shot by one officer.
The boy, Tyree King, died at a hospital. No one else was hurt.
Tyree was black. The officer is white and a nine-year veteran of the force.
Police Chief Kim Jacobs says after the shooting is investigated, a grand jury will consider whether charges are merited.
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2:35 a.m.
Police in Ohio responding to a report of an armed robbery shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who they say pulled a gun from his waistband that was later determined to be a BB gun.
It happened Wednesday night in Columbus.
Police say when officers arrived on the scene, the victim told them that a group of males had approached him and demanded money. One of them reportedly had a gun.
Police say the officers saw three males matching the descriptions of the suspects and tried to speak with them, when two of them ran off. The officers followed them to an alley when police say a suspect pulled a gun from his waistband, and an officer shot him.
The suspect, later identified as Tyree King, was taken to a hospital, where he died.