In a statement to investigators, Officer Timothy Loehmann claims that he and his partner shouted, “Show me your hands” at least three times at Tamir Rice before fatally shooting him, the Associated Press reports. “I knew it was a gun and I knew it was coming out,” Loehmann said.

Rice, 12, was carrying a non-lethal pellet gun. Loehmann shot him twice, on November 22, 2014. Rice died the next day.

“The suspect lifted his shirt, reached down into his waistband. We continued to yell ‘show me your hands,’” Loehmann said in the statement. “I was focused on the suspect. Even when he was reaching into his waistband, I didn’t fire. I still was yelling the command ‘show me your hands.’”

Loehmann said he saw a weapon in the boy’s hand. “The threat to my partner and myself was real and active.”

Video of the shooting shows Loehmann firing his weapon within two seconds of jumping out of his squad car.

Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.