John Bacon, and Jane Onyanga-Omara

USA TODAY

Police in Cleveland fatally shot a 12-year-old boy wielding what turned out to be a replica gun. They were responding to a 911 call in which a man said a juvenile was scaring people with a gun that probably was fake.

The boy, identified by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office as Tamir Rice, was shot in the torso in the playground area of a recreation center Saturday afternoon.

Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said one officer fired twice after the boy pulled the fake weapon -- which didn't have the orange safety indicator usually found on the muzzle -- from his waistband but had not pointed it at police. The boy did not make verbal threats, Tomba said, but grabbed the replica handgun after being told to raise his hands. He died Sunday at MetroHealth Medical Center.

The shooting comes amid a continued nationwide focus on police incidents, including the ongoing grand jury investigation in Ferguson, Mo., and the fatal shooting of a Florida policeman during a house fire outside Tallahassee on Saturday.

Cleveland police released Saturday's 911 call from a man who said he was across the street from the park.

"There is a guy with a pistol, it's probably fake, but he's pointing it at everyone," the caller says. The caller later repeats that the gun is probably fake, and adds that "he's probably a juvenile."

The gun was found to be an "airsoft"-type replica gun, a BB-gun type gun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol.

Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said the officers were not told the caller thought the gun might be fake.

The police force and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office are investigating.

Contributing: Associated Press