Cleveland prosecutor releases enhanced images chronicling police shooting of Tamir Rice

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty released 326 enhanced images Saturday showing a frame-by-frame analysis of the November 2014 fatal shooting by Cleveland police officers of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy carrying a toy gun.

The images, enhanced by the Washington-based Forensic Video Solutions, seemingly back up reports released by the prosecutor suggesting Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot Rice, may have believed Rice was armed with a real gun, The Plain Dealer reports.

The Rice family's attorneys are challenging that notion, USA Today reports, and asking the prosecutor to let their own use-of-force experts testify before the grand jury, which is hearing evidence to decide if Loehmann and the other officer involved in the shooting should be criminally indicted.

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"The frames contain editorial comments that attempt to make excuses for the officers," Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra wrote in a statement. "Tamir, for example, may be lifting his arm in shocked reaction to being shot. The effort to characterize the evidence is hardly fair play and is one of many reasons the Rice family and clergy throughout Cleveland lack confidence in the prosecutor's fairness in this matter."

The Plain Dealer published copies of the enhanced frames here.