A 13-year-old Ohio boy who was shot dead by a Columbus police officer investigating a report of an armed robbery was to be laid to rest this weekend.
Attorneys for the family of Tyre King said funeral and visitation services would be held on Saturday morning at a Columbus church.
Police have said officer Bryan Mason shot Tyre on 14 September, after the boy ran from investigators and pulled out a BB gun that looked like a real firearm.
“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,” an independent examiner retained by the King family, Dr Francisco Diaz, said in a statement from the family released this week.
Diaz found that Tyre, who he noted was 5ft tall and weighed less than 100lbs, died from three gunshot wounds, “any of which could be determined to have been cause of death”.
Evidence in the shooting investigation will automatically be presented to a grand jury to determine if the officer’s actions were justified or charges are warranted.
The King family has called for an independent investigation. Its attorneys said the eighth-grader played football and other sports, and was in a young scholars program.
