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This is image is among 326 released by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty on Nov. 28, 2015 that offer frame-by-frame analysis of what two surveillance cameras captured during the Nov. 22, 2014 police shooting that killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice outside the Cudell Recreation Center.
(Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Enhanced surveillance images of the Tamir Rice shooting offer a closer look at what appears to be the boy walking toward a Cleveland police cruiser, reaching for his waist and lifting his arm and shoulder in the split-second before a police officer shot him.
The images are among 326 released Saturday night by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty that offer frame-by-frame analysis of what two surveillance cameras captured during the Nov. 22, 2014 shooting outside the Cudell Recreation Center.
The images released Saturday were enhanced by Grant Fredericks of Forensic Video Solutions in Spokane, Washington. Fredericks used metadata from the surveillance video to establish the timeline of events leading to Tamir's shooting. (See the images in the document viewer below.)
Fredericks is a contract instructor at the FBI National Academy and is "one of the most experienced video experts in North America," according to the company's website.
Text overlays detail what is seen in certain images.
In one frame, Tamir, who had a plastic replica gun tucked into his waistband, stands up from a bench under the recreation center's gazebo as a police cruiser drives toward him.
It is unclear if he sees the cruiser, which would come to a stop in front of him about 10 seconds later.
About four seconds after standing up, Tamir puts his hands together in front of his stomach. In the next second, Tamir walks toward the police cruiser as it reaches the gazebo.
As the nose of the cruiser moves past Tamir, the boy moves his right arm toward his waist.
In the next frame, Tamir walks toward the moving cruiser and continues moving his right arm toward his waist. The cruiser's passenger door opens.
The next frame shows Tamir lift his right shoulder and arm. The cruiser remains in motion as officer Timothy Loehmann springs from the passenger seat.
A frame later, Loehmann shoots Tamir.
The images appear to support arguments made in a trio of expert reports made public by the prosecutor's office beginning in October. In each report, the experts determined that it was reasonable for Loehmann to believe that Tamir was armed with a gun, despite the fact that the initial 911 caller said that the boy was likely a juvenile and that the gun he had was "probably fake."
That information was never relayed to the responding officers.
"This decision, in my opinion, was clearly objectively reasonable, given the totality of the circumstances," certified Florida law enforcement officer, instructor and consultant W. Ken Katsaris wrote in his analysis released last month.
Subodh Chandra, one of a team of attorneys representing Samaria Rice, Tamir's mother, in a pending civil lawsuit against the city of Cleveland and the officers involved in the shooting, released a statement saying the release proves that Tamir was not reaching into his waistband.
"The video continues to reveal police officers rushing upon 12-year-old Tamir without assessing the situation, and officer Loehmann fatally shooting the child immediately," Chandra said. "And the officers fail to administer first aid to the boy while he lay bleeding and dying on the ground."
Chandra also criticized McGinty for giving the video to media outlets.
"The frames contain editorial comments that attempt to make excuses for the officers," Chandra wrote. "Tamir, for example, may be lifting his arm in shocked reaction to being shot. The effort to characterize the evidence is hardly fair play and is one of many reasons the Rice family and clergy throughout Cleveland lack confidence in the prosecutor's fairness in this matter."
The grand jury began hearing evidence in the case in October. Tamir's family, their lawyers, local clergy and activists from around the country have demanded McGinty remove himself from the case.
They have accused him of dragging his feet and working to exonerate the police officers involved in the shooting.
McGinty drew criticism after a statement made to a TV report last month where he said that attorneys for Tamir's family members have "economic motives" in calling for his removal.
McGinty has refused to step down.
He has taken flak for releasing reports from hired experts who concluded that the officers involved in the shooting acted reasonably.
It's been more than a year since Tamir's death. His case is one of dozens of police shootings that has drawn international attention since the August 2014 fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a suburban St. Louis police officer. Officers in Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and North Charleston, South Carolina have been indicted.
The response in communities has varied. Protests turned to riots in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore. Demonstrators marched through Chicago streets earlier this week, outraged by a year-old video that shows a police officer shoot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times.
Scenes from Chicago mirror the mostly calm protests in Cleveland where demonstrators blocked traffic along the Shoreway and tried to disrupt Black Friday shoppers at the Steelyard Commons.