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The police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice has a new job in Pennsylvania, according to HuffPost. Reporters say Timothy Loehmann was sworn in Tuesday (July 5) as the only police officer servicing a nearly 700-person borough of Tioga, Pennsylvania.
Loehmann, a former Cleveland police officer, shocked the nation for killing the Black boy who played with a toy gun at a local recreation center on November 23, 2014. An Ohio grand jury declined to indict the cop on criminal charges related to the shooting, prompting a tidal wave of Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
He was eventually fired, but only for lying on his job application -- not killing Tamir Rice. Loehmann also had to withdraw his application to a law enforcement position in Bellaire, Ohio back in 2018 once the public caught wind, HuffPost says. The ex-cop also tried to get his job with Cleveland Police back, even with the help of a police union, but the Ohio Supreme Court ruled against him.
Tioga Mayor David Wilcox told WEWS that he wasn't aware of the officer's reputation and background. He claims he was "under the impression" that there was a thorough background check on Loehmann before he was hired for the position.
"I found it strange that someone would move here all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, for $18 an hour," Wilcox said in a separate interview with Cleveland.com. "But I heard that he wanted to get away from it all and come here to hunt and fish."
Samaria Rice, Tamir's mother, told the media back in 2018 that she hopes Loehmann doesn't get hired again as a police officer. Upon hearing the news of his new job, she told Cleveland.com that it was a "big mistake."
"He shouldn’t be a police officer anywhere in the United States," she told reporters.
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