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Cleveland Delays Dismantling of Gazebo Where Officer Shot Tamir Rice

A police officer fatally 12-year-old Tamir Rice at this gazebo in 2014. (Nick Castele / ideastream)
A police officer fatally 12-year-old Tamir Rice at this gazebo in 2014.

by Nick Castele

Cleveland is delaying its plan to dismantle the gazebo where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was fatally shot by police in 2014.

The city had planned to take down the gazebo this week—a decision the Rice family supported.

But a statement from the mayor’s office says the city received a request on Monday to delay from William Pretzer, a curator at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Fleur Paysour, a spokeswoman for the museum, said the institution doesn’t have plans to add the structure to its collection, however. Pretzer had been talking about preservation with Black Lives Matter, according to an email he sent to the city law director.

The Rice family is open to the idea of preservation, according to attorney Subodh Chandra.

And the city of Cleveland has agreed to hold off on dismantling the gazebo for 30 days.

Nick Castele was a senior reporter covering politics and government for Ideastream Public Media. He worked as a reporter for Ideastream from 2012-2022.