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Mother: Boy Killed by Police Never Had a Chance

The mother of a 12-year-old boy shot to death by police on a Cleveland playground says her son was never given a chance to follow officers' orders.

NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of a 12-year-old boy shot to death by police on a Cleveland playground says her son was never given a chance to follow officers' orders.

Samaria Rice also told The Associated Press that police put Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister in handcuffs as she rushed to help her dying brother.

But the teary-eyed mother said Monday she believes the family "will have justice."

The officers were responding to a call about someone possibly carrying a gun. Police say they told the boy to raise his hands and he didn't.

Rice's attorney, Benjamin Crump, says the officers could have defused the situation. He says they could have talked to the boy from a distance instead of pulling up next to him and firing within 1.7 seconds.

The boy was carrying an airsoft gun, which shoots plastic pellets.

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 (Photo: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

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