Tyre King Autopsy Update: Cause Of Death Happened When Boy Was Running Away

Tyre King, the 13-year-old African-American boy recently killed by police in Columbus, Ohio, was running away when he was fatally struck by several bullets, according to an independent medical examiner hired by the child’s family. Attorneys representing the family said Monday his loved ones were not allowed to view King’s body on the night of his death and will be forced to wait six to eight weeks for official autopsy results.

The King family hired Francisco J. Diaz, a practicing medical examiner in Wayne County, Michigan, to look into the death. Diaz determined the boy was shot three times. The bullets entered through the left side of his body, any of which could have been the fatal shot. King was struck in his left temple, his left collarbone and in his left flank. King was said to be reaching for a BB gun in his waistband when he was shot three times.

Diaz described King as being five feet and less than 100 pounds. “Based on the location and the direction of the wound paths, it is more likely than not that Tyre King was in the process of running away from the shooter or shooters when he suffered all three gunshot wounds," he said.

Columbus Police said they were responding Wednesday to a report of an armed robbery of $10 by a group of teenagers when they encountered King and shot the boy. Officials arrested over the weekend Demetrius Emanuel Lee Braxton, 19, on one count of robbery, a felony of the second degree, in relation to that robbery.

Braxton told the Columbus Dispatch last week he was with King when he was shot.

“The cops said to get down,” Braxton told the newspaper. “We got down, but my friend got up and ran … [and] when he ran, the cop shot him.”

Officer Bryan Mason, who killed King, has been placed on administrative leave.