EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above depicts a police-involved shooting where a 12-year-old died. Please consider carefully before watching.
There are two versions attached above: the first is the raw, uncut video, and the second is narrated and annotated by Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Ed Tomba.
Cleveland police Wednesday released the surveillance video capturing the shooting of a 12-year-old Cleveland youth by police.
Tamir Rice was shot to death Saturday by Cleveland police, who responded to a call identifying someone "waving a gun" around outside Cudell Recreation Center.
Timothy Loehmann , 26, and Frank Garmback, 46, were the officers involved in the shooting. Loehmann fired the fatal shot.
"Keep in mind, the incident involved a 12-year-old boy," Police Chief Calvin Williams said.
LISTEN | 911 call
LISTEN | Dispatch audio
At first, Tamir's family didn't want to watch or have the video and audio released, but later changed their minds. Tamir's family and police agreed to release the video Wednesday afternoon.
The video shows Tamir sitting at a picnic table and getting up, pointing and waving a gun. Commander Ed Tomba said officers told Tamir three times to put his hands up through an open car door as they pulled up to the scene.
Tamir is behind the police cruiser when the shooting occurs.
A First District officer and an FBI agent responded to the scene and applied first aid to Tamir in less than 4 minutes of getting the call. And 3 minutes after that, EMS arrived. Tamir died at the hospital the following day.
Faces were also blurred by the police department to protect witness identities.
The video is a "low-resolution" and "highly-compressed" digital recording obtained from a surveillance camera near the rec center.
That means the images — instead of appearing as real-time movement — appear in a "more jerking" and "time lapsed" motion.
Police said Loehmann fired after it appeared the youth was reaching for a weapon. Loehmann provided a statement, but police will not release exactly what he said.
Tomba said the release of this video by no means is to exonerate the actions of the police or show Tamir did anything wrong. “We are doing it for the wishes of the family and being fair to the community,” he said.
The officers are on paid administrative leave.
Though the video shown today may be troubling in nature, NewsChannel 5 felt it was important to let you see this evidence.
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