Officer Who Shot Tamir Rice Convinced 12-Year-Old Had Real Gun - Report

A report was just released by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office in Cleveland, Ohio, which offers some insight into the events leading up to the police shooting of a 12-year-old who was playing with a toy gun.

Police officer Timothy Loehmann, who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, told investigators that he fired only after Rice reached for what he thought was a gun.

"He gave me no choice. He reached for the gun and there was nothing I could do," Cleveland police Officer Timothy Loehmann told a fellow officer shortly after he shot Rice.

That’s according to a 224-page report released by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty which is the first time Loehmann's account of the shooting has been revealed.

The report also indicates that Loehmann and his partner also refused to be interviewed by sheriff's investigators about the incident.

The report also suggests Loehmann became distressed after he learned that Tamir was much younger than first thought and that his gun was actually a BB gun, according to observations of fellow officers provided in the report. One officer described the the BB gun as appearing to be to be "1,000 percent" real.