Timothy Loehmann, who was the sole officer in the Tioga Police Department, resigned Thursday after protests over his killing of Tamir Rice in 2014.
Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland cop who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, resigned Thursday from a tiny Pennsylvania department after vehement protests over his hiring.
Loehmann was sworn in Tuesday evening as the sole officer in the Tioga Police Department. The rural borough's population is 700.
Steve Hazlett, the president of the borough council, told Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that Loehmann withdrew his application Thursday morning.
Protesters descended on the town council Wednesday night after news reports surfaced saying Loehmann had been sworn in as the small enclave's sole cop.
“I was under the impression that there was a thorough background check into him, that he didn’t have any issues,” said Mayor David Wilcox said Wednesday, Cleveland.com reported.
“I found it strange that someone would move here all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, for $18 an hour. But I heard that he wanted to get away from it all and come here to hunt and fish.”
Rice's mother, Samaria, said, "It’s really pathetic and sad that anybody would give this man a job," WKYC-TV reported. "Timothy Loehmann should never have a job, nowhere across the country, after murdering my son."
Tamir Rice was fatally shot by Loehmann on Nov. 22, 2014 after police received a report of a "guy with a pistol" outside Cleveland's Cudell Recreation Center.
But the boy was playing with a pellet gun. Responding officers said they didn't know he was juvenile, playing with a toy, before he was shot twice.
In 2015, an Ohio grand jury declined to charge Loehmann. He was fired a year later after an internal investigation determined he lied on his application to join the force.
This is the second time Loehmann has tried to join a law enforcement agency since the fatal shooting.
He attempted to join the Bellaire Police Department in 2018, but quit days later after controversy erupted.
In 2021, an appeals court upheld Loehmann's firing, and the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal.
No member of the Cleveland department has ever been charged in the boy's death.
