This is just a horrific case in which police mistook an "airsoft" gun for the real thing, shooting down a 12 year old boy within a couple of seconds of their arrival following a 911 call.

The actions of the boy in the moments before he was shot are hidden by a police cruiser who pulled up next to him as he was wandering around a rec center park.

WKYC:

Police responded to the Cudell Recreation Center on Saturday when a man called 911 to report somebody was waving a gun around. The audio of the call was played at the news conference.

"The guy keeps pulling it out," the 911 caller said. "It's probably fake, but you know what, he's scaring the (expletive) out of (inaudible). ... He's sitting on the swing right now, but he keeps pulling it in and out of his pants and pointing it at people. Probably a juvenile, you know? … I don't know if it's real or not, you know?"

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That's when officers on the scene said they asked Rice to raise his hands and he went for the gun in his waistband. Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officers involved were Timothy Loehmann, 26, and Frank Garmback, 46, and Loehmann, who was the one who shot Rice.The video clearly shows the shooting incident, but Rice is hidden from view beside the police cruiser when he is shot and falls to the ground.

It turned out to be an "airsoft" gun that did not have the orange tip. Police say the weapon was indistinguishable from a deadly firearm.

The fact that the 911 caller told the dispatcher the gun might be a toy is irrelevant. The responding officers had no way of knowing the weapon wasn't real. Even the caller admitted he was frightening people with it.

I think most people recognize this is a tragedy and not police brutality. Nevertheless, there will be a thorough investigation into the deadly force used against the boy and the events leading up to the shooting.