Tamir Rice's Mother Moves From Homeless Shelter to New House
It's an especially painful Mother's Day for Samaria Rice, but the grieving mom of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was shot to death by a Cleveland cop five months ago, is finding support in her family and her community.
A week after Rice moved into a homeless shelter because she could no longer stand to live next door to the "killing field" where her son was shot, her supporters are helping her make a fresh start.
An online GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $50,000 to relocate Rice to a new home, and to help pay the legal expenses for her family's independent investigation and a possible federal civil rights lawsuit.
“Emotionally, she just could not take it, and she had nowhere else to go,” Rice’s attorney Walter Madison told Cleveland Scene of her decision. “It was more comfortable for her in a shelter than it would have been in her own home."
In January, a grainy surveillance video released by the city of Cleveland showed two officers pushing Tamir's 14-year-old sister to the ground and cuffing her just moments after a third officer had shot her younger brother. Madison called the treatment of the sister "the cruelest thing I've ever seen on video."
"Less than a second, my son is gone and I want to know how long I have to wait for justice," Rice said at press conference last month, thanking supporters for coming out.
More than 1,300 people have donated to the Tamir Rice Memorial Fund. His burial date is not yet scheduled. Reportedly, Rice is concerned that an additional medical examination may be required.
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(Photo: AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)
