Officials urged calm as they brace for expected protests after a grand jury voted not to indict a white Cleveland police officer for fatally shooting a 12-year-old black boy who was carrying what turned out to be a pellet gun.

Small groups of protesters gathered Monday outside the Cuyahoga County Justice Center and at the recreation center where Tamir Rice was shot by then-rookie patrolman Timothy Loehmann in November 2014. County Prosecutor Tim McGinty announced that Loehmann and his field training officer wouldn't be indicted because of "indisputable" evidence that Tamir Rice was reaching for what officers thought was a real gun tucked in his waistband, and urged those who disagreed with the grand jury to protest peacefully. Outside the recreation center, protesters chanted, "No justice, no peace!" Cleveland resident Art Blakey held a sign that read, "Indict, Convict, Send Killer Cops to Jail!" He said he wasn't surprised by the grand jury decision. The grand jury had been meeting several times a week since mid-October to hear evidence and testimony about the shooting. McGinty said he recommended to the grand jury that Loehmann and patrolman Frank Garmback not be indicted because they had no way of knowing that Tamir was carrying an Airsoft-type gun that shoots nonlethal plastic pellets instead of the actual firearm it's modeled after, a Colt semi-automatic pistol.

In a statement, Tamir Rice's family said it was "saddened and disappointed by this outcome but not surprised." It accused the prosecutor of "abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment."

A video of the shooting recorded by a surveillance camera and released publicly in the days following Tamir's death sparked outrage and helped fuel the national Black Lives Matter protest movement that gathered momentum after black men were killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City. Officers in both of those killings were cleared of criminal charges by grand juries.