Tamir Rice
Full Name
Tamir Elijah Rice
Date of Birth
June 25, 2002
Place of Birth
Date of Death
November 23, 2014
Place of Death
Education
- Attended Marion-Seltzer Elementary School in Cleveland
Spouses Names
Not available
Children Names
Not available
Parents Names
- Father: Leonard Warner
- Mother: Samaria Rice
Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old African American boy whose death at the hands of Cleveland police became a seminal event in the Black Lives Matter movement. On November 22, 2014, Rice was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center when he was shot by a white police officer, Timothy Loehmann, within seconds of the officer’s arrival on the scene. The gun Rice had was a toy, but it lacked the orange safety indicator that would have identified it as such. The incident was captured on surveillance video and led to widespread outrage and protests. The 911 caller had noted that the gun Rice had was “probably fake,” but this information was not relayed to the responding officers. Rice died the following day in the hospital. The officers involved were not indicted by a grand jury, and the city of Cleveland later settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Rice’s family for $6 million. Rice’s death and the subsequent legal outcomes intensified the national conversation about police violence against African Americans and the need for reform in law enforcement practices