. >> reporter: the boy was playing with a pellet gun in a public part when loman and frank pulled uphooting caught on surveillance video. judge ronald adrian released his opinion thursday stating that he found probable cause that officer garn back be charged with negligent homicide and derelict of duty and judge said officer loman who fired the fatal shots should face the same charges including murder involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide. >> this is more than about the law, this is an about a moral obligation to speak the truth to folks in power when they refuse to and about a moral obligation for my nieces and nephews on the streets of cleveland everyday and i fear for their life. >> reporter: cleveland authorities said that the officers mistook the weapon for a real gun and took the sheriff's department more than six months to wrap up its investigation and the case was turned over to prosecutors last week. community leaders took advantage of an ohio law that allowed them to bypass prosecutors and go directly to the court. >> it's absolutely legal, there is an obscure prov

loman will face murder and probable cause of neg janet homicide. the court is still thunder struck by how quickly this event turned deadly. the judge's opinion in response to activist who used an obscure ohio law to sidestep an investigation and asked the judge to weigh in. >> we're asking for an arrest. that's what the statute calls for. >> reporter: the judge's opinion is advisory. prosecutors say they will present the case to a grand jury well aware that grand juries have not charged police in some recent high-profile shootings, rice's mother told us months ago she was trying to be optimistic. >> at the end of the day, he's still a kid, still a kid, 12-year-old kid. >> reporter: tonight no arrests for the officers as activists demanded. rice's family may have taken a step closer to finding justice. >>> to the story of an american high school student from virginia facing a lengthy prison sentence after he was unmasked in court today as a recruiter for isis. he threw away his future to further the reach of isis propaganda online. our justice corre

it's been more than six months since tamir rice was killed by officer timothy loman in that. this court is thunderstruck by how quickly his event turned deadly. i'm joined by john birchurch. he's been involved in high profile cases. thank you for being with me. >> thank you for having me. >> they said this decision will be in the hands of the prosecutor despite the strongly worded decision by this judge. >> that's absolutely correct. obviously the grand jury is the one who makes the decision but i do think the judge's opinion in his analysis gives a clear road map for the prosecution that will create expectations for the prosecution to at least consider what has been said and will be difficult for them to just ignore it. from that point of view it is correct the grand jury makes the final decision. and of course the judge was only looking at probable cause. the d.a. in presenting this case obviously looks at probable cause, but he looks down the road to see if he has the kind of evidence available to him that proves the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. he doesn'

the attorneys for officer loman said the judge's order does not and should not impact the investigation conducted by the cuyahoga county sheriff's department. we respect the authority of the prosecutors to review and investigate this case. reaction from the community following the judge's ruling? >> there's been so much community attention placed on this. people from all around the world are paying attention to this case. the first thing i would say is there are different parts of the community. you have that cleveland eight as tamir rice's family attorney has dubbed. the eight people who went with that citizen's affidavit asked the judge, we want charges. we want arrests. they were ecstatic when i talked to member who had come to the judge asking for this. the reality is they didn't get what they wanted. there were no charges issued. this now a political football was tossed to the prosecutor who has promised he will then toss it along to a grand jury to decide if charges will be issued in this case. these folks are very excited about it but it didn't have the outcome they were looking

. >> that was the attorney for timothy loman reacting that there is probable cause to charge his clientshooting death of tamir rice. he was the 12-year-old boy with a pellet gun and he was shot dead seconds after the police pulled up to the scene. let's go to danny and mel. danny is a criminal defense attorney and mel is also an attorney and cnn commentator. danny, what the judge decided is there's probable cause to charge the men with murder manslaughter reckless homicide negligent homicide. this judge says there is probable cause to charge them with that but, that doesn't mean today they are being charged with that. legally speaking what are the consequences here? >> the consequences are virtually none. this judge reached the correct legal result. i'm not talking about the probable cause determination. arguably more important was the determination of the role and the power of the court in this situation. in ohio this law allows for what are called private, criminal complaints to be reviewed by a court. the issue is can the court compel the arrest and prosecution of a defendant if the

can that officer be charged with negligence homicide and derrik of duty, the judge also said officer loman who fired the fatal shots should face the same charges including murder, and voluntary man slaughter and reckless homicide. this is about a mobile obligation. it is about a moral obligation for my little nieces and nephew whose are on the streets of cleveland every day and i field for their lives. >> cleveland authorities say the officers mistook the weapon for a real gun and took the sheriffs department more than since months to wrap up the investigation the case was turned over to prosecutors last week, community leaders took advantage of a ohio law that allowed them to bypass prosecutors and go directly to the court it is absolutely legal, there's an obscure provision in ohio law that allowed an average citizen to file an affidavit with any reviewing magistrate that could force them to file a warrant in this case. >> the judge noted in his order however that his role was advisory in nature and hi did not order the arrest of the officers the judge'ses opinion is is now in the hands

. >>> we have some breaking news a cleveland judge found probable cause that officer timothy loman shoulde charges in the death of tamir rice. houv, the judge found there was a lack of probable cause for aggravated murder with respect to garnback. it will be up to the prosecutor to file charges against the officers, tamir rice was shot and killed by police in cleveland. after a man called 911 to report a child playing with a gun. he had an air gun capable of shooting plastic pellets or bb's. joining me now on this breaking news story is dr. james peterson and director of africana studies at lehigh university. give us your gut reaction. >> gut reaction we want to make clear the news out there is accurate. you're right, to highlight the fact that this is a municipal judge who's saying there's probable cause to make the charges. the charges have not yet been made. this is a huge victory for grassroots activists and citizens. very the moss cuter and sort of criminal justice system there was no decision no case as to when there would be a decision. citizens and activists and organizers apply p

and in it, he suggests that officer timothy loman face murder and other charges including involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide. and the judge went on to say that the officer frank garrback should be charged with dereliction of duty. it comes days after a group of community leaders filed affidavits asking the court to intervene, david. >> and bisi, what kind of impact are the impact are the community leaders saying that they will have? >> reporter: well, the community leaders used an old ohio law that allowed them to bypass prosecutors and go directly to the judge and ask that judge to get involved in the case and arrest officers. and that didn't happen. the judge who reviewed this case didn't take it that far but tommy tamire rice's family said that they are very pleased with the developments. i've been talking to sources and they tell me that the judge's role is by nature, and his review puts pressure on prosecutors. >> thank you. and there's every indication that communities across the united states are paying more attention to deadly encounters between criminals and polic

video you can clearly see the police cruiser pulls up into the park and within seconds officer timothy loman jumps out and shoots tamir rice. his sister is tackled to the ground, handcuffed and put into the police cruiser feet from her dying brother. i spoke to the attorney for the family. here is what he had to say. >> so one has to weigh who is at fault, i would think the adults not the 12-year-old boy playing at a playground seeing the eyes from the 12 year old. >> he had previously resigned from a small town police force because he was quote emotionally unstable and unfit for duty. both he and his partner remain on restricted duty. >> thank you very much. just a few hours mourners pay final respects to vice president joe biden's son beau. biden served at delaware's attorney general from 2007 until earlier this year. he passed away from brain cancer at the age of 46. president obama will deliver eulogy saturday. and what can you tell us regarding how events will play out today? >> it's been a long week in delaware. i live and work in delaware. it has been a long week. here it will be a to

the judge also saying there's probable cause to charge officer timothy loman's partner with negligentactivists. the group saying it does not trust the criminal justice system to act fairly in this racially charged case. local prosecutors have yet to present the case to a grand jury. >> today, as citizens, we are taking this matter and the matter of justice into our hands. >> reporter: tamir was shot by officer loman back in november responding to a report of someone with a gun. it turned out, tamir had a nonlethal, plastic pellet gun. tamir's mother told "good morning america" she wanted to see both officers charged with murder. >> i'm looking for a conviction for both of the officers. >> reporter: although the petition filed under an obscure state law demanded that the judge order the two officers be arrested if there was a finding of probable cause, that will not happen. the judge saying that only local prosecutors can make that decision, and the local prosecutor's office saying they will await the grand jury's decision and that could be weeks, even months away. ron claiborne, abc n

statement he shouted orders to rice before shooting him instead saying, it sun clear whether officer loman verbal commands from inside the zone card to rice who was located inside of the gazebo area prior to discharging his weapon. investigators found him shot 1 to 2 seconds, firing two shots, one hit the boy standing 4.5 to 7 feet away. the documents revealed moments after the shooting officer frank requested ems, asked for ems again telling them quote step it up, then in a third request, asked for cleveland fire to respond, it would take 8 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. the report says rice was given first aid by an fbi agent, trained as a pair paramedics. the agents said rice turned over and acknowledged and looked at me, and like reached for my hand. the sheriff's department investigated the 911 call reporting a male on the playground threatening with an apparent gun. the caller was drinking a beer in the park waiting on a bus. he told the police oper the suspect could be a juvenile and the gun was probably fake. critical information never given to the responding police officers.