Reviews call deadly police shooting of US boy justified

Washington

 A white police officer in Cleveland, Ohio, was justified in shooting dead a 12-year-old boy carrying a replica gun last year, reports ordered by the prosecutor investigating the incident found Saturday.

 Surveillance video showed Tamir Rice was killed within seconds of the patrol car arriving on the scene in a park. A judge ruled in June that there was probable cause to charge the police officers with murder.

 A retired FBI agent and a Denver prosecutor both found in separate reports that Officer Timothy Loehmann's decision to shoot the boy was "reasonable" because Rice could be perceived as a threat. In a 911 call, Rice was described as a man waving and pointing a gun.

 The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office released the reviews, which it had requested as it gathers evidence to present to a grand jury that will determine whether Loehmann will face criminal charges over Rice's death on November 22, 2014.

 "We are not reaching any conclusions from these reports," Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said in a statement.

 "The gathering of evidence continues and the grand jury will evaluate it all," he added, noting his office had invited Rice family attorneys to provide input or evidence for the case.

 His office also released a reconstruction report by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

 Rice family lawyer Subodh Chandra accused the experts of assisting in a "whitewash" of the incident, and accused the prosecutor of being on an "11-month quest to avoid providing that accountability."

 "These supposed 'experts' -- all pro-police -- dodge the simple fact that the officers rushed Tamir and shot him immediately without assessing the situation in the least," Chandra said. "Who will speak for Tamir before the grand jury? Not the prosecutor, apparently."