It was November 22, 2014, when Samiria Rice gave her 12-year-old son Tamir Rice and 14-year-old daughter Tajai a few dollars so that they could walk to the local store and buy snacks for themselves. While they were gone, she got herself ready for a quick run to the grocery store so she could pick up a few items for dinner. Her life came to a standstill when neighborhood children came banging on her door to tell her that the police had killed her son.
According to reports, Tamir Rice was at a nearby park playing with an Airsoft gun, a gift from a friend and the ones with the bright orange tip, when someone called the police and stated that there was a person with a firearm. They reportedly told dispatch that it looked like a child and the gun was most likely fake, but it only took responding officer Timothy Loehmann a few seconds to arrive at the scene and gun down Tamir.
In a recent interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Samaria Rice remembered her son on what should have been his 18th birthday: Thursday, June 25. “You don’t get over nothing like this,” she said. “It’s an empty feeling of loss when you don’t have your puzzle complete.” She added, “He mastered all the sports that could be mastered. So the next LeBron James, Odell Beckham. ... I really don’t know because I was robbed of that.”
A grand jury would later decline to bring charges against Loehmann. He was eventually fired from the police department, but it didn't have anything to do with killing young Tamir. He was let go because it was later discovered that he lied on his application but reportedly was hired at another location. Samaria and the Tamir Rice Foundation are holding a special event this weekend to honor the slain teen.
[via]
