Ministers cancel meeting today with prosecutor on Tamir Rice case

CLEVELAND (AP) — A group of ministers canceled a planned meeting today with the Cuyahoga County prosecutor to discuss the grand jury’s decision not to indict two white Cleveland police officers in the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center.

A spokesman for Prosecutor Tim McGinty said the ministers didn’t say why the meeting was canceled. The meeting with the group of mostly black pastors was scheduled for this morning. The head of the group says he canceled the meeting to allow ministers to focus on the boy’s family as they grieve.

The black community has been especially vocal in its criticism of how McGinty handled the case, including the release of expert reports saying the shooting was justified.