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Friends and
family of Tyre King will mourn him at a funeral service at the
First Church of God in Columbus. The service, scheduled for
Saturday morning, is open to the public.
The family said through its attorneys in announcing the funeral
this week that it stood with recent police shooting victims and
their families in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Tulsa,
Oklahoma.
King's shooting on Sept. 14 along with those in Charlotte and
Tulsa are the latest to stir passions in the United States over
the police use of force against black males. The deaths have led
to a broad debate on race and justice in the United States and
given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
According to the Columbus Police Department, King was shot
multiple times after he appeared to pull a handgun from his
waistband during an encounter with police following a report of
an armed robbery.
It was later determined the gun in question was an air pistol
that fires BBs - small, metal pellets, not bullets. Columbus
Mayor Andrew Ginther said the BB gun looks "almost identical" to
the 9 mm Glock semi-automatic handguns carried by city police.
However, a forensic report prepared by a medical examiner hired
by the family said the teenager was shot while running away. The
family also has said witnesses' accounts did not match what the
police were reporting and has called for an independent
investigation.
The Franklin County Coroner's Office has said a determination on
the cause and manner of King's death was pending.
The family's forensic report described King as 5 feet tall and
weighing less than 100 pounds.
King was one of three suspects police confronted after
responding to reports of an armed robbery. Columbus police
officer Bryan Mason, the nine-year veteran who shot King during
the encounter in an alley, has been placed on administrative
leave.
(Reporting by Aaron Josefcyk; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by
Matthew Lewis)
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