CLEVELAND — Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice while on the job in November of 2014, has resigned from his position with a West Virginia police force just days after his hiring was confirmed.
White Sulphur Springs City Councilman Thomas Taylor tells 3News media partner cleveland.com Loehmann chose to step down from his position as a probationary officer Monday afternoon following "public outcry." Mayor Kathy Glover also released a statement to both cleveland.com and NBC News claiming Loehmann had initially been hired "at the request and recommendation" of Police Chief D.S. Teubert but that he was "no longer an employee with the City of White Sulphur Springs."
Loehmann fatally shot Rice outside Cleveland Cudell Recreation Center nearly a decade ago after dispatchers received a call regarding a a "guy with a pistol." Rice had been playing with a pellet gun that lacked an orange safety tip, and officers claimed they did not know he was a child before shooting him twice. A 911 caller's belief that the gun was "fake" was also not relayed to law enforcement.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury declined to indict Loehmann or anyone else in the case, but in 2017 Loehmann was fired from the department after it was revealed he lied on his job application. An appeal of his decision was eventually denied, with the Supreme Court of Ohio also declining to take up the matter.
Since his firing, Loehmann has also been hired by smaller departments in Bellaire, Ohio, and Tioga, Pennsylvania, but he voluntarily left both times following near-instant backlash. White Sulphur Springs is a city of around 2,200 people in southern West Virginia, and Teubert acknowledged to cleveland.com he was aware of Loehmann's background when he brought him to his department.
"What crime was he convicted of?" Teubert said when speaking to the publication, adding he looked into Loehmann's record for about a year before hiring him. "I just want everyone to be fair about this whole thing. If I thought he had done something illegal or wrong in any way I wouldn't have hired him."
WKYC had independently reached out to White Sulphur Springs officials for comment, but has not heard back. Subodh Chandra, a civil rights attorney representing the Rice family, released the following statement:
"While it's a relief that Loemann (sic), yet again, is no longer a cop, there must be accountability for the atrocious judgment of the police chief and any other officials involved in the decision to entrust this kid killer and adjudicated liar with a badge and gun again. Only then might other officials grasp that he is radioactive. It also seems pathological at this point that Loehmann is determined to inflict himself on other communities. Find another vocation, child slaughterer."