Tamir Rice latest news: Family files wrongful death suit against Cleveland police

CLEVELAND -- The family of a 12-year-old Cleveland boy who was fatally shot by police filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit on Friday against the city and the police officers involved.

Tamir Rice was shot last month while carrying what turned out to be a replica gun that typically fires plastic pellets. The shooting came at a time of heightened national scrutiny of police use of force, especially against African-Americans.

The two officers that responded to the call have been identified as Timothy Loehmann, 26, and Frank Garmback, 46. They were responding to reports of a weapon in the park, though the caller had initially said he thought the weapon was fake.

There's "a guy with a pistol, and it's probably fake ... but he's pointing it at everybody," a caller told 911. "I don't know if it's real or not." Jeff Folmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, told the Associated Press the two officers who responded were not informed the pistol could have been fake.

Rice was hit two times in the chest, and from there he was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center.

The 12-year-old died shortly after.

The boy's father, Gregory Henderson, asked why non-lethal means were not used.

"Why not taze him? You shot him twice, not once, and at the end of the day you all don't shoot for the legs, you shoot for the upper body," he told The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

"He had his whole life ahead (of him)," Henderson said to WKYC. "To be 12 years old, he doesn't know what he's doing. Police they know what they're doing."

Rice's family called for the surveillance video to be released publicly after seeing it themselves.