As officers tried to take the suspects into custody, police say one of them pulled a BB gun from his waistband.
"The Columbus Police Department has a history of investigating itself following these officer involved shootings and we believe that these investigations are inherently biased", Brown said.
The incident began just before 8 p.m. EDT when police responded to reports of an armed robbery.
This morning, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs gave the officer's name, adding "Officers at the scene were very disturbed about the fact that here we are at the this time of the night chasing armed 13-year-olds". Police identified the victim as Tyree King.
"The only thing similar in nature is the age, race and outcome", police spokesman Sgt.
The shooting happened after an alleged robbery victim told police that a group had pulled a gun on him and demanded money. That's when Tyree pulled out a gun, and one officer fired his weapon, hitting the boy repeatedly, police said.
The teenager was shot several times after he pulled out a BB gun, which fires shot pellets, during a confrontation with police in an alley.
The suspect, later identified as Tyre King, was taken to a hospital, where he died.
Rice was drawing an airsoft gun from his waist when Officer Timothy Loehmann, who is white, fired the fatal shots within two seconds of arriving outside a recreation center where the sixth-grader was, a prosecutor said. Officers said the armed man had refused orders to drop his weapon.
Attorneys who represent the teen's family released a statement saying what police described is "out of his normal character".
At a news conference Thursday, police Chief Kim Jacobs displayed a photo of what she described as a "replica" of the BB gun that Tyre had.
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He went on to say that a young person carrying an "exact replica" of a firearm and "involved in very, very risky conduct" should be a wake-up call to the community. "But as you can see, it looks like a firearm that could kill you".
The man who shot King, Officer Bryan Mason, a nine-year veteran of the force, will be placed on leave for at least a week during an investigation, Jacobs said.
While angry messages flooded social media, Columbus officials called for calm during an investigation into the death.
Hours after the news conference, police in Columbus also posted an image online showing what they said was a replica of the gun.
Authorities said it wasn't clear if the shooting was caught on surveillance or cellphone video.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther delivered an emotinal response to the shooting.
"Why is it that a 13-year-old would have almost an exact replica of a police firearm on him in our neighbourhoods?"
"There is something wrong in this country, and it is bringing its epidemic to our city streets", Ginther said Thursday.
This year, that list has included Kionte Desean Spencer, an 18-year-old who was shot by Roanoke County police officers while holding a broken BB gun that officers say looked real; and Robert Dentmond, a 16-year-old in Gainesville, Florida, holding a toy gun that resembled an assault rifle. Then an unidentified witness overhears gunfire and tells a dispatcher: "He's shooting him!"
"I just think it was bad circumstances that he had a gun", Naderer said.
Police observed three males matching the perpetrators' description, including King, and went after them when King and Braxton ran away, the report said.
