US Police Shoot And Kill 13-Year-Old Boy Carrying A BB Gun

US Police in Columbus, Ohio have shot and killed 13-year-old Tyre King, mistaking his BB gun for a lethal firearm on Wednesday night.

According to The Guardian, officers were responding to a report of armed robbery when they spotted three people matching the description of the thieves; Tyre was one of them.

Tyre and one of his companions fled when officers approached. Multiple shots were fired after Tyre allegedly pulled a BB gun from his waistband. He later died in a Columbus children's hospital.

Police have assured that the case will be investigated thoroughly before being presented to a grand jury, though lawyers for Tyre's family have urged for an independent investigation, following reports that witness accounts are in conflict with the police version of events.

One of the lawyers assigned to the case, Sean Walton, has quoted the boy's family saying it would be "so out of character" for Tyre to have been involved in an armed robbery.

The officer responsible for firing at the 13-year-old has been identified as Bryan Mason. He had only recently been assigned to the neighbourhood but otherwise had nine years experience in the police department. Police records indicate he shot and killed a man holding someone else at gunpoint in 2012, but was later cleared by investigators.

Questions have been raised about racial elements of the case, and has spurred a strong response from the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

ProPublica analysis of FBI data shows black teens were 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police officers than white teens between 2010 to 2012. ProPublica added: "One way of appreciating that stark disparity... is to calculate how many more whites over those three years would have had to have been killed for them to have been at equal risk. The number is jarring – 185, more than one per week."

Tyre's death is strikingly similar to the police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, which sparked a number of #BlackLivesMatter protests around the US.

Photo: Twitter - WCMH-TV