Officer Who Killed 12-Year-Old Loses Latest Job

A former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has been fired from his job as a ranger at a resort community in West Virginia, marking the fourth known time in seven years that he has left a small public safety department following public backlash.

Timothy Loehmann was dismissed Friday from his position with the Snowshoe Resort Community District, according to the Associated Press. The district’s board announced the decision after holding an emergency meeting.

Subodh Chandra, an attorney for Rice’s family, criticized both Loehmann and the officials who hired him, saying, “Loehmann’s determination to inflict himself on other people seems pathological. So does the craven poor judgment required by any public officials who hire him.”

Tamir Rice, who was Black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014, when Loehmann shot him seconds after arriving at the scene with another officer. The officers later told investigators that Loehmann had shouted commands for Rice to raise his hands. A grand jury declined to indict either officer, a decision that fueled national outrage and intensified scrutiny of police treatment of Black Americans and systemic racism.

The city of Cleveland later settled a civil lawsuit with Rice’s family for $6 million. Loehmann was fired from the Cleveland Police Department after it was determined that he had lied on his application to become an officer.

Since then, Loehmann has repeatedly been hired — and then separated from — law enforcement or public safety roles amid public criticism:

In 2018, he accepted a part-time position with a police department in southeast Ohio but withdrew his application days later after objections from Rice’s mother and community members.
In 2022, he was sworn in as the sole police officer in Tioga, Pennsylvania, but left the job following widespread backlash.
Last year, he resigned as a probationary officer in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The police chief who hired him later stepped down.

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