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First details of surveillance video showing 12-year-old Tamir Rice shot by Cleveland Police officer

Faces of eyewitnesses, police mosaiced
Posted at 9:14 PM, Nov 25, 2014
and last updated 2017-05-30 10:40:20-04

NewsChannel 5 has obtained the first description of surveillance video capturing the shooting of a 12-year-old Cleveland youth by police.

12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot to death by a Cleveland police officer Saturday who responded to a call identifying someone "waving a gun" around.

The 911 caller twice told a dispatcher he believed "it might be a fake"—it later turned out to be an air gun.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation say the video is a "low resolution" and "highly compressed" digital recording obtained from a surveillance camera near the Cudell Recreation Center where the shooting happened.

Because it is so "highly compressed" the images are not crystal clear and the recording itself, according to sources, is only two frames per second, which is very slow.

For comparison, NewsChannel 5 broadcasts in 60 frames per second.

That means the images—instead of appearing as real-time movement—instead will appear in a "more jerking" and "time lapsed" motion.

Even so sources say police are confident that the video recordings show that the officer involved "acted reasonably."

Police say the officer fired after it appeared the youth was reaching for a weapon.