Former Ohio officer who killed Tamir Rice resigns from Pennsylvania police department

The former Ohio police officer who shot and killed Tamir Rice in 2014 in Cleveland resigned Thursday as the sole officer of a small town in Pennsylvania, after being sworn in earlier this week.

"Effective this morning Timothy Loehmann has officially withdrawn his application for Tioga Borough Police Officer," officials said on the town's website.

Tioga is a small borough in Pennsylvania with a population of around 700 people.

The town's mayor, David Wilcox, told WEWS on Wednesday that he was unaware of Loehmann's background as hiring and firing is done by the borough council—something the mayor said the council president led him to believe had been done and there were no issues.

Watch video of Loehmann's hiring:

The mayor said he sat in on Loehmann's interview and his time in Cleveland came up but nothing was ever mentioned about his role in Rice's death.

The council unanimously approved Loehmann's hiring at $18 per hour. He was hired on a 90-day probationary period, and according to the mayor, the intention was to promote him to chief after a successful period.

The hiring prompted dozens of protesters to express their displeasure with the council's decision.

The former Cleveland officer was one of three candidates being considered by the town. Wilcox said he never saw Loehmann's resume.

"I was not allowed to take his resume or look into his background," the mayor said.

This isn't the first time Loehmann was hired as a police officer and then resigned following his departure from Cleveland.

He was briefly hired as a part-time officer by the police department for the small Ohio village of Bellaire in 2018, but shortly after reports of Loehmann's new job surfaced, he withdrew his application.

Loehmann is the officer who shot and killed the 12-year-old in 2014. Rice was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center when he was shot by Loehmann.

He was fired by the Cleveland Division of Police in 2017, more than two years after the fatal shooting, for lying on his application and violating other administrative policies.

City officials charged Loehmann for failing to provide truthful information on his application. Officials said they discovered Loehmann was in the process of being fired from his previous department for his “lack of maturity” and an incident involving an emotional meltdown during firearm training, according to Cleveland police.

Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Jeff Follmer issued the following statement regarding Loehmann being brought on as an officer by another department:

"Timothy Loehmann was cleared of all charges with his use of force. The only administrative charges after a civilian review was that he was found to have allegedly lied on his application. Timothy Loehmann was not given a fair chance in this area and deserves a fair chance in another city."

Drew Scofield at WEWS first reported this story.