The Caledonian Record (Vt.), Dec. 30, 2015

On Monday Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty announced there would be no criminal charges filed against two Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

“Simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct by police,” McGinty explained.

Rice was playing with a BB-gun pistol in a public park last year. A caller told the 911 dispatcher that a young man looked like he had a gun but it could be fake.

Moments later, video clearly shows, a patrol car screams into the middle of the park and a rookie police officer exits the vehicle with his gun blazing. There appears to be no effort made by police to do anything but shoot Rice.

McGinty argues that Rice looked older than 12; that the 911 dispatcher didn’t relay information that the gun might be fake; and that it appeared to police that the kid was reaching for the gun holstered in the waistband of his sweatpants.

That all could be true. But it doesn’t change the material fact that police shot and killed a child who wouldn’t have been found guilty of anything in a criminal court.

Though we stand solidly behind brave law enforcement officers, who routinely risk their lives in high-adrenaline situations, we don’t understand this Grand Jury finding. Society cannot allow innocent children to be killed with impunity.