The 12-year-old boy from Cleveland who was shot by a police officer after mistaking the youth's toy gun for a real weapon died on Sunday.

The boy, named by The New York Times as Tamir E. Rice, was initially in critical condition following the shooting incident on Saturday afternoon.

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According to Deputy Chief Ed Tomba, the toy gun - an "airsoft" type replica that looks like a semi-automatic pistol - had its orange safety indicator removed. The indicator is usually found on a gun's muzzle.

On Saturday afternoon, 911 received a call saying a male youth was brandishing a BB gun while playing outside a fun center in Cleveland, but the male caller hinted that it could be a fake or toy gun only. In spite of the warning, the two Cleveland officers who responded to the call fired two shots, with one hitting the boy in the stomach.

The boy was rushed to the MetroHealth Medical Center and he underwent surgery on Saturday evening. As of Saturday night, he was in critical condition, but on Monday morning he died from the gunshot wound, reports The Independent.

According to the concerned caller, he was sitting at the park next to the Cuddell Recreation Centre at the corner of Detroit Avenue and West Boulevard when he saw the boy pointing the pistol at everyone, which scared park visitors.

Minutes after the call, the two police officers arrived. Jeffrey Follmer, president of the Police Patrolmen's Association, recalled that the new cop asked the pistol-waving boy to place his hands up and the youth placed one hand on his pants' waistband and pulled out the gun. This prompted the two cops to fire their guns immediately, thinking the kid possessed real weapon at the time.

Samaria Rice, the mother of the 12-year-old boy, said her son had no ccess to a real firearm at their house which is located just across the recreation center. Timothy Kucharski, the family lawyer, said he would hold his own investigation and review as well the results of the police probe. Kucharski said the boy's mother is devastated and is seeking prayers from the community.

The replica gun that the boy was playing with looked like a semiautomatic pistol, the New York Times cited Cleveland's Division of Police Investigators spokesperson Jennifer Ciaccia as saying.

According to Deputy Chief Ed Tomba of Cleveland Police, the 12-year-old did not threaten the responding cops or point the fake gun at them. The two parties also did not engage in any verbal confrontation.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office is determining through an investigation if the two cops were justified in firing their guns at the boy. They are presently under administrative leave, in compliance with police protocol for cops involved in shooting incidents.

The incident has the potential of triggering a community outrage since the victim carrying the toy gun was black, although the race of the officer who shot the boy has not been disclosed. The shooting came just as the nation is waiting for the verdict of the grand jury on the Ferguson shooting incident.

TagsCleveland boy, Ferguson shooting, Cleveland shooting, Tamir Rice