CLEVELAND — Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy gunned down by Cleveland police while he was playing with a toy gun outside the Cudell Recreation Center, was remembered Saturday at the very place he was killed six years ago.
On Saturday, members of the community came together to honor him. Tamir would have turned 18 later this month on June 25.
Rice was shot by a Cleveland police officer on Nov. 22, 2014 within seconds of the officer's arrival outside the Cudell Recreation Center. An investigation revealed that the boy had a pellet gun on him at the time of the shooting. The officer, Timothy Loehmann, was cleared of any criminal wrong doing. He was later fired for failing to state on his application that he had been previously ousted from another department before being hired by Cleveland.
The family states that it plans to open the Tamir Rice Afrocentric Cultural Center to "provide artistic, educational and civic youth programs that celebrate the history and culture of people of African descent."
