Eight months after the shooting death of 13-year-old Tyre King by a Columbus police officer, a Franklin County grand jury decided on Friday that the officer involved shouldn't be criminally charged.

The grand jury voted not to indict Officer Bryon Mason for his actions in the Sept. 14 shooting in Olde Towne East. King was among a group of young people suspected in a $10 robbery when he was fatally shot by Mason after King pulled what police later found out was a BB gun from his waistband as he ran from police.

The gun, found at the scene, was designed to look like a real firearm and equipped with a laser sight. At least seven of the nine grand jurors must agree that the officer's actions are unlawful to return an indictment.

Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said the grand jury heard from 15 to 17 witnesses — including the youth's mother, Nia Malika King — in a session that began Thursday, before returning what is known as a "no bill" in the case late Friday.

All fatal officer-involved shootings in the county are taken to a grand jury "so citizens know it's not just the police who investigate, but it's the prosecutor's office ... and at least nine independent grand jurors," O'Brien said.

In a statement from the King family issued by the Walton + Brown law firm, the family said it "is saddened and completely dissatisfied" but not surprised with the grand jury's decision. The family criticized police, Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and O'Brien in the statement over how the case was handled. In particular, the King family cited what it said was bias because evidence presented to the grand jury was from Columbus police and no independent agency was used to perform a separate investigation.

The family said its request for an independent special prosecutor also was rejected by O'Brien.

"The process is flawed and no officer will be held accountable until the people tasked with investigating and prosecuting criminals do so with the same approach to all individuals," the family's statement said.

Mason had been involved in three earlier shootings, one of them fatal, and has since been placed on narcotics duty by Chief Kim Jacobs.

Jason Pappas, president of Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said that "based on the facts of the case, the grand jury got it right... You had a robbery that had just occurred, a fleeing, armed suspect and the officer was justified in protecting his life and the lives of the public."

The Sept. 14 robbery was reported by a man who said he was approached on South 18th Street near Madison Street about 7:40 p.m. by a young man who asked him the time. Another man with the same group then approached with a handgun. He said the group fled after he handed over $10.

Officers responding to 911 calls about the robbery confronted two young men who matched descriptions provided by the victim, prompting a foot chase that ended with King being shot.

On Friday evening after the grand jury verdict, more than 100 community members sat in 13 seconds of silence — one for each year of King’s life — at the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church, 80 S. 18th St., about a block south of where King was fatally shot near Madison Avenue.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the pain of this mother and sister and all those who loved Tyre, there is not a single one of us here that can fully understand it,” said the Rev. John Boston II. “It is unnatural for a parent to say goodbye to a child.”

Adrienne Hood, the mother of Henry Green, spoke at the church gathering. In March, a Franklin County grand jury decided that the use of deadly force against Green, 23, by Columbus Police Officers Jason Bare and Zachary Rosen also was justified.

“Continuously, we have to keep going through this," Hood said. "Our hearts hurt. But one thing I know about my people is we continue to bounce back. And we’re going to bounce back again. Again, and again.”

In June 2016, Bare and Rosen were wearing civilian clothes and patrolling in an unmarked SUV when they said they saw Green, 23, and a friend walking in the area of Duxberry Avenue and Ontario Street in South Linden. The officers said they saw a gun in Green's hand and that he raised it toward their vehicle.

According to police, the officers jumped from the SUV, identified themselves as police and ordered Green to drop his gun. Instead, police said, Green pointed his gun at the officers and fired. The officers returned fire. O'Brien said Green fired six shots, Bare fired seven and Rosen 15. Green was shot seven times.

Last week, a deputy Columbus police chief recommended that Rosen be disciplined for an April 8 incident in which a bystander captured video of Rosen using his left foot to stomp once on the head of a black male suspect. The suspect was handcuffed behind his back, lying on his stomach on a concrete driveway and being restrained by another officer.

That case still must go to a hearing before Chief Jacobs to act on the recommendation. If she upholds the decision, Rosen has the option of appealing to the public safety director.

Following the church gathering for King, those in the group sang as they walked to the area where King was killed for a candlelight vigil. King family members did not speak at either location.

City officials and police have held public forums in an effort to improve community interaction in the wake of the King and Green shootings and protests, and police are beginning to wear body cameras.

Tammy Fournier-Alsaada, lead organizer with the People’s Justice Project, told those gathered for King on Friday to continue demanding more engagement from elected officials and accountability of a justice system that she said has again fallen short.

“This is just one step in a long road. And it stings. We’re human beings and it hurts, and it stings, and it’s wrong. I’m tired. I’m tired. But we must fight on,” she said.

jfutty@dispatch.com

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