Cleveland To Pay Tamir Rice’s Family $6M To Settle Suit Over Death

Update: The family of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014, will receive a $6 million settlement. The settlement from the city of Cleveland, announced Monday, is the result of a federal lawsuit filed by Rice's family. Rice had been carrying a toy pellet gun before he was shot in a park on November 22, 2014. He died during surgery the following day. The officers involved in the shooting have not faced criminal charges. The settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing on behalf of the officers or the city, according to Cleveland.com.

Rice's family attorney applauded the settlement as "historic in financial terms," but added that, "no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a life," according to the website. "Nothing will bring Tamir back. His unnecessary and premature death leaves a gaping hole for those who knew and loved him that can never be filled," the statement said. The city has not yet commented on the settlement.

This story was originally published on December 28, 2015.

Update: 3:50 p.m.: Rice's family has released a statement saying the family is "disappointed" by the decision. The family accused Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty of "manipulating the grand jury process." You can read the full statement below. Update: 3:15 p.m.: Following the announcement about the Cleveland police officers, activists in New York City have organized a protest against the grand jury's decision. Demonstrators will meet in Manhattan's Washington Square Park on Monday night.

On Monday, county prosecutors in Ohio announced that the Cleveland officers involved in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice will not be charged. Rice, who was Black, had been carrying a toy pellet gun when police shot him seconds after pulling up to the park where Rice was playing. He was shot on November 22, 2014, and died while in surgery the next day. Neither Timothy Loehmann, the white police officer who shot Rice, nor his partner, Frank Garmback, also white, will face criminal charges, a grand jury announced Monday. Before the announcement, a Cleveland judge had said there was "probable cause" for charging Loehmann with murder, according to Al Jazeera. After Rice's family filed a wrongful-death suit, the city of Cleveland argued that the 12-year-old "didn't exercise due care" and that he "directly and proximately caused" his own death. Loehmann had left a job as a police officer in a Cleveland suburb after superiors found he was unfit for duty. One personnel report said the officer was going through an "emotional meltdown," and a firearms instructor wrote that "his handgun performance was dismal." Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said Monday that it would have been "unreasonable" for the two officers to wait to see if Rice's gun was real or not. "It was horrible, unfortunate, tragic," McGinty said at a press conference Monday. "But it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime."