Gazebo Where Tamir Rice Was Shot to Be Moved to Museum

Crews began to disassemble the gazebo today.

ByABC News
September 14, 2016, 11:14 AM

— -- The gazebo at a Cleveland, Ohio, playground where Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy, was shot dead by a white police officer is being dissembled and moved to another state to be displayed at a museum.

Tamir was holding a toy gun when he was fatally shot on the playground in November 2014, and his death garnered national attention. In December 2015, an Ohio grand jury declined to indict the two police officers in Tamir's death, and in April of this year, the city of Cleveland agreed to a $6 million settlement in a lawsuit over Tamir's death that was filed by his family.

Originally, Tamir's mother, Samaria Rice, and the city of Cleveland agreed to demolish the gazebo, but later Rice "and those around her began to realize its historical significance and importance of preserving it," said Rice family Attorney Billy Joe Mills.

The gazebo, which turned into a makeshift memorial after the boy's death, will be moved to Stony Island Arts Bank, a museum in Chicago, where it will be displayed, according to The Associated Press.

Crews began the deconstruction process this morning by removing shingles from the roof.

Mills called the gazebo "one of the strongest national symbols of the current era of civil rights and police brutality."

PHOTO: Tamir Rice is seen in this undated photo provided by his family.
Tamir Rice is seen in this undated photo provided by his family.

The Tamir Rice Foundation, run by Tamir's mother, agreed to loan the gazebo to the museum, and "all sides have positive feelings about the loan and partnership," Mills told ABC News.

Mills said, "We hope that it will continue to serve as that symbol but that by installing it at prominent institutions it will be elevated further in importance and power."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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