according to this caller and he was also probably a juvenile. based on the information the officers had they pulled up to that park and within two seconds fired that fatal shot towards rice as he reached towards the right side of his waistband. according to the reports that reaching towards the waistband by tamir rice was enough of a perceived threat to justify this shooting. these reports, they get into this saying it s not whether the officers were right or wrong in firing that shot. it s if they had reason to believe that this was a threat to their safety. this fbi agent who wrote the second report making news last night writing in their report the weapon in question was an air soft gun is not relevant to a constitutional review of officer loehman n s actions that rice was holding a pellet gun and the orange tip had been removed from that gun. we will following the story as it develops. nick, thank you so much. we appreciate it.
of tamir rice, he was 12 years old, was, quote, reasonable. those reports as well as a third one by the ohio highway patrol were posted on the prosecutor s website saturday night. a cleveland police officer shot rice last november saying that he was holding a pellet gun which looked like a handgun. cnn legal analyst and criminal defense attorney joey jackson joins me now from new york. let me read you a bit from one of the reports to get your reaction to it. this senior district attorney in denver says, quote, officer loehmann is believed that rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or death was objectively reasonable as was his response to that perceived threat. do you buy that? well, what i think, martin, is that it s a jury question. and good afternoon, by the way. if just stepping back a little bit. a few thins have to be kept in perspective. number one the ultimate decision
will be made bay grand jury. understand and remember that a grand jury doesn t determine the ultimate issue of guilt. they re merely there to assess whether there s reasonable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that, in fact, officer loehmann committed it. the other thing is a grand jury doesn t have to be unanimous and with a standard that low it will go before the grand jury and they ll assess that really ultimate conclusion, was it reasonable. the second thing to remember is that an expert opinion or any opinion can differ and vary. and being in this business, i can tell you that you can get an expert to basically say and you know not really pooh-poohing it at all but you can get an expert to say whatever it is you need them or want them to say. that s not a matter of being cynical. that s a matter of having people that have varying perspectives and opinion. these happen to say this. the third factor is if you look at it and it will ultimately come out if it goes to t
developing. let s begin with the new reports out of cleveland justifying the actions of the ohio police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old tamir rice who was later found carrying an air kbun. the reports were released last night by the prosecutor s office and what they say in an effort to be transparent as a grand jury decides whether or not to bring charges against the office. nbc chanelle jones has the latest. reporter: 12-year-old tamir rice s final moments caught on tape. the boy waiving an air gun in a cleveland park. a caller to 911 alerted police. scaring [ bleep ]. reporter: cleveland police officer tim loehmann arrived on the scene with another officer but were not told it was probably a fake. loehmann shot and killed the boy when he reached for his waistband. tamir rice s death along with other officer shootings sparked riots. in two reports released by
released two independent outside expert reports who both found the officer who shot and killed 12-year-old tamir rice acted reasonably. he was shot and killed by timothy loehmann on november 22nd of last year after a 911 caller said there was a guy in the park with a pistol pointing it at people. the officers who responded were not told the caller also said that it was probably a juvenile and that the gun was fake. loehmann got out of the car and within two seconds fired his gun twice within seven feet of rice, killing the 12-year-old. after police realized that the gun was a pellet gun, the shooting resulted in protests around the country. now the prosecutor s office has released two expert testimonies they say in the interest of being transparent. one expert said in his report, there can be no doubt that rice s death was tragic and indeed when one considers his age heartbreaking. however, officer loehmann s belief that rice posed a threat of serious physical harm or