A department spokeswoman for the Cleveland police said the department will on Wednesday afternoon release the surveillance video that shows the shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy shot by a white officer for carrying what turned out to be a replica gun.

At this time Chief Calvin Williams will offer an update on the investigation.

Tamir Rice was shot Saturday by an officer responding to a call about someone with a gun near a playground.

According to police Tamir was instructed to raise his hands whereupon the boy reached into his waistband for what appeared to be a firearm.

The police later determined that what was reached for was in fact an "airsoft" gun missing its orange safety indicator.

Williams said the "airsoft"-type pellet gun, due to the missing orange safety tip, was indistinguishable from a real semiautomatic pistol, according to USA Today. "Guns are not toys," Williams added. "We need to teach our kids that."

Tamir Rice died on Sunday. His family's attorneys saw the video the next day and called for the full footage to be released publicly. In a statement quoted by NBC news, Tamir Rice’s parents, Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner, said "we feel the actions of the patrol officer who took our son’s life must be made public."

Officials of the city of Cleveland said that they had been withholding the video, claiming that it was evidence in the investigation and that they wanted to be sensitive to the family, the community, and the officer involved.

Police have yet to discuss the details details of what the video shows. The shooting has led to an investigation of the officer's use of force and protests referencing this and other police-involved shootings, including the deadly shooting of Michael Brown, in which the officer involved was not indicted by a grand jury.

The public outcry over the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice by a rookie police officer grew to public demonstration on Tuesday evening when, according to Cleveland.com, about 200 protestors flooded Public Square and temporarily closed both east- and west-bound lands of the Shoreway during rush hour.

Arms Linked, the protestors marched and shouted "Hands up, don't shoot" and "No justice, no peace!" waving signs that read: "From Michael Brown to Tamir Rice, this must stop."