For Tamir Rice’s family, the fight for justice is far from over

“I don’t want my child to have died for nothing," Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, said in a statement. Illustration via Max Fleishman, The Daily Dot. — “I don’t want my child to have died for nothing,” Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, said in a statement. Illustration via Max Fleishman, The Daily Dot.

The family of Tamir Rice is not giving up.

Last month, a grand jury issued no indictment in the death of Rice, a 12-year-old who was shot by a Cleveland, Ohio, police officer in November 2014. Rice was playing in a neighborhood park with a toy handgun that mimicked the look of a real firearm when two officers arrived on the scene and one shot him.

The case became famous due in large part to the release of surveillance footage that showed Officer Timothy Loehmann firing his gun twice at Rice within seconds after exiting his patrol car. The grand jury found that Loehmann and fellow officer Frank Garmback, who was driving the cruiser, broke no laws in the confrontation with Rice.

“It would be irresponsible, and unreasonable, if the law required a police officer to wait and see if the gun was real,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said during a Dec. 28 press conference. McGinty said Officer Loehmann “had reason to fear for his life.”

With the help of Black Lives Matter organizers and civil rights attorneys, Rice’s family has vowed to continue its battle to hold the officers accountable—though they face an uncertain and difficult road ahead.

“I don’t want my child to have died for nothing, and I refuse to let his legacy or his name be ignored,” Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, said in a statement. “We will continue to fight for justice for him, and for all families who must live with the pain that we live with.”