Gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was killed to go on display at memorial museum

By MARK GILLISPIE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

9 years ago

In a Monday, Dec. 1, 2014 file photo, Tomiko Shine holds up a picture of Tamir Rice during a protest in Washington, D.C. The gazebo where the 12-year-old boy, Rice, was fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer is scheduled to be disassembled. A spokesman for the Stony Island Arts Bank says the shingles will be removed on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016, with work continuing into next week. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

CLEVELAND — Workers have begun dismantling the gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by a Cleveland police officer.

A Chicago arts organization is planning to display the gazebo where the black boy was killed by a white officer while playing with a pellet gun in November 2014. It became a makeshift memorial to Tamir.

Crews on Wednesday morning removed concrete picnic tables by the gazebo at a recreation center on Cleveland’s west side. They also took off some shingles from the roof, with additional dismantling scheduled for later in the day.

The structure has become a symbol for a protest movement over the killings of black men by police.

The Tamir Rice Foundation is finalizing an agreement to loan the structure to Chicago’s Stony Island Arts Bank.