Posted on May 5, 2016

Smithsonian Institution Seeks to Preserve Gazebo Where Tamir Rice Was Shot

Leila Atassi, Cleveland, May 2, 2016

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has asked the city of Cleveland to delay the demolition of the gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by police in 2014.

In an email Monday, the museum’s Senior History Curator William Pretzer told Cleveland Law Director Barbara Langhenry that the museum “is in talks with Black Lives Matter concerning options for preserving the gazebo, given its importance to African-American history.”

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It’s unclear whether the museum would seek to relocate the gazebo to the museum, which is under construction in Washington D.C. and will open later this year, according to its website. {snip}

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Tamir was gunned down on Nov. 22, 2014 while police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback were responding to a 911 call about a “guy” with a gun in the park. Tamir turned out to have been carrying a pellet gun.

A grand jury declined to indict the officers in December in connection to the shooting. The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, which resulted in a $6 million settlement last month. {snip}