A 13-year-old boy fatally shot by Columbus, Ohio, police last week was “more likely than not” running away from an officer at the time he was killed, according to an independent medical examiner retained by the child’s family.
Attorneys for the family of Tyre King said on Monday that the local coroner’s office completed its autopsy of the child’s body, but the results wouldn’t be made available for at least six weeks. In response to the delay, the attorneys said, Tyre’s family decided to hire an independent forensic pathologist from Michigan to evaluate the number, characteristics and location of the gunshot wounds on Tyre.
“Based on the location and the direction of the wound paths it is more likely than not that Tyre King was in the process of running away from the shooter or shooters when he suffered all three gunshot wounds,” the examiner, Dr Francisco Diaz, said, according to a statement from the family. Co-attorney Sean Walton told the Guardian in an email that Diaz conducted his examination of Tyre’s body on Sunday. The attorneys didn’t immediately respond to a request for a copy of Diaz’s report.
Tyre was killed last Wednesday at 7.42pm, when authorities responded to a report of an armed robbery of $10 by a group of teenagers. When officers arrived, Tyre was spotted with two other males who matched a description of the suspects and soon fled on foot. As officer Bryan Mason approached King, police said the child removed a BB gun from his waistband, before he was shot “multiple” times. Tyre was transferred to a hospital and pronounced dead at 8.22pm.
Mason, a nine-year veteran of the Columbus police division, has since been placed on administrative leave and will receive psychological counseling. Authorities have said Tyre’s BB gun resembled a real firearm, and the police division’s chief Kim Jacobs said her officers “carry a gun that looks practically identical to this weapon.”
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