SLATTY FORK, W.Va. (AP) — The former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has been fired from his job as a ranger in a West Virginia resort community, the fourth known time in seven years that he has left a small department amid public backlash.
Timothy Loehmann was fired from the Snowshoe Resort Community District on Friday. The district’s board of trustees announced Lowman’s firing in a statement issued after an emergency meeting.
“Lowman’s determination to inflict harm on others appears to be pathological,” said Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland-based attorney for the Rice family. “So does the timid, poor judgment required of public officials who employ him.”
On November 22, 2014, Rice, who was black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland. He was shot and killed by Lowman seconds after Lowman and his partner arrived. The white officer told investigators that Lowman yelled at Rice three times to show his hands.
The shooting sparked an outcry over police treatment of black people and systemic racism, especially after a grand jury decided not to indict Lowman or his partner.
Cleveland settled Rice death lawsuit for $6 million. Lowman was fired from the city for lying on his police application.
In 2018, Lowman obtained a part-time position with a police department in southeastern Ohio. Rice withdrew his application days later after his mother and others criticized the hiring.
In 2022, he was sworn in as the sole police officer in Tioga, Pennsylvania, but also left after being hired amid backlash.
Last year, he resigned as a probationary police officer in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, and the police chief who hired him also resigned.