CLEVELAND — The former Cleveland Police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 was hired as an officer in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
According to local news outlet WVVA, Timothy Loehmann resigned from that position on Monday after public outcry over the decision to hire him.
“I have already told him this over the airways, like your career in law enforcement is over,” Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, said. “So why don't you find something else to do to try to support yourself and your family?”
For Tamir’s family, Loehmann’s attempts to continue a career in law enforcement feel like “a slap in the face.”
Just over a week ago, Rice was hosting a birthday celebration for her late son, Tamir, who would have been 22 this June.
“It's just always an overwhelming process for me because, you know, people do remember and I try to, try to have some type of normalcy,” she said, “But it doesn’t really never happen.”
Not long after Tamir’s birthday, Rice got a call that made her heart sink.
“I got a call from a reporter out in West Virginia wanting to do an interview with me about the hiring of Timothy Loehmann out there,” she said.
No officers have been charged with criminal wrongdoing in Tamir’s killing, but Loehmann was fired from Cleveland’s police force for lying on his application.
When Rice found out he had been hired as an officer in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, she was furious.
“It's a slap in the face each and every time that Timothy Loehmann tries to resurface to try to be a police officer,” she said. “It is very heartbreaking, and it takes a lot out of me to have to speak on it. And I think he knows that.”
This isn’t the first time Loehmann has tried to carry on his career in law enforcement.
In 2022, he was hired as an officer in a small town called Tioga in Pennsylvania.
He resigned quickly after public outrage over his hiring.
Spectrum News sent numerous requests for comment to police and city officials in White Sulphur Springs, but haven’t heard back.
In a statement on Facebook, one city council member from the town, Ryan Lockhart, said it is their Chief of Police’s responsibility to hire officers.
He asked the public not to judge their entire community based on one man’s decisions.
Lockhart goes on to say, in part, “I would like to extend my sympathies and most heartfelt condolences to the family, friends, and community of Tamir Rice. I would like to apologize to them for the unfortunate series of events that resulted in them reliving the tragic incident these last few days.”
Rice said as long as Loehmann continues trying to work as an officer, she’ll continue working to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“It seems like I never get a minute's rest,” Rice said. “Not when I have to deal with things like this and also deal with Tamir's legacy. Being a businesswoman and a mom, it never stops for me.”
The City of Cleveland agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit filed over Tamir’s death but admitted no wrongdoing.