No, he was shot because he wasn't "respectful". I love these posts that preach absolute obeisance to police officers then complain about our becoming a fascist society run by Nazis. A bit of cognitive dissonance there.
No, they shot him because he reached for the gun and pulled it out. Was the dispatcher 100% certain it was a toy gun? Nope. Plenty of kids in the ghetto have access to guns.
In the inner city, most all of them. "Probably" will get you killed. You pull a gun, real or "probably" not, you get shot. Simple as that.
This instance reminds me of something I've thought earlier, it seems the police want a danger-free job lately. That might help explain all the new gear they're buying from the military.
And based on the latest info it appeared to be a real gun ... They say the replica that Tamir Rice was carrying near a playground on Saturday was missing an orange safety indicator and appeared indistinguishable from a real firearm. http://news.yahoo.com/probe-begins-fatal-shooting-boy-officer-065908018.html
Missing an "orange safety indicator"? Paint the whole fucking gun orange! If that's too sissy for you, then don't fuck with it.
I don't know about that particular gun, but Air Soft makes theirs to look like a genuine 1911 with the orange indicator on the front of the barrel. Without the orange, can't see how a cop could know the diff. And if the kid wasn't a PUNK, he'd have known better anyway. Sad, of course for a child to get killed... but what about personal responsibility?