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Black Lives Matter: Where is Timothy Loehmann now? Cop who shot Tamir Rice, 12, was about to get his job back

Loehmann was fired from the police in 2016 not for shooting Tamir Rice but for lying on his job application

In a tragic case on November 22, 2014, 26-year-old police officer Timothy Loehmann shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice — a young Black boy who was reportedly brandishing an airsoft pellet gun. A surveillance video footage showed Loehmann shooting at Rice almost immediately after reaching the scene, from the police car while it was yet to stop. Rice died from a bullet wound to the torso the next day.

Tamir Rice's family filed a lawsuit against the responding officers Loehmann, Garmback, and the city of Cleveland on account of wrongful death, which was eventually settled for $6 million. However, Loehmann was not indicted as the prosecutor called Tamir's death 'a perfect storm of human error, reported Huffpost. The prosecutor Timothy McGinty said, “It would be irresponsible and unreasonable if the law required a police officer to wait and see if the gun was real."

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While Tamir Rice's family continues to mourn his tragic death to this day, former police officer Loehmann was almost about to get his job back on the force as his ex-colleagues at the Cleveland Police Union appealed for his reinstatement, according to Scene. In the end, the appeal was dismissed by an Ohio Court.

How was Tamir Rice killed?

Born on June 25, 2002, to Samaria Rice and Leonard Warner, Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy hailing from Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of his death. He was known for his athletic prowess at the Marion-Seltzer Elementary School, where he engaged in various sports like football, basketball, soccer, and swimming. He also participated in arts programs at the local community recreation center, where he excelled in pottery and crocheting. He was the youngest child of his parents with an older sister and brother. 

On the fateful day of November 22, 2014, Tamir was playing with a replica toy gun at the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland. Soon, a caller dialed 9-1-1 to report about the youngster's suspicious behavior, where he was pointing "a pistol" at random people. However, during the course of the 2-minute call, the caller clarified twice that the gun was "probably fake" and added that the individual was "probably a juvenile", as per Washington Post. 

Officers Loehmann and Garmback who were the first responders to the scene, however, were not relayed the information that Tamir Rice appeared to be a juvenile by the 9-1-1 dispatched.

As soon as they arrived at the scene, they yelled, "show me your hands," to young Tamir from within the patrol car window, Loehmann stated later. He said that instead of showing his hands, Tamir reportedly appeared to draw on a weapon, according to CBS News. Within seconds, Loehmann fired twice at the youngster, hitting him in the torso. Tamir died from his injuries the following day. 

It was later found that the 9-1-1 emergency call came from a man who was drinking beer near the recreation center. Neither Loehmann and Garmback were indicted in the case. 

Why was Loehmann not prosecuted?

To the shock of Tamir Rice's family and supporters of the Black Lives Matters movement worldwide, the Department of Justice declared that it would not bring federal criminal charges against the two Cleveland police officers, since the footage of the shooting was of too poor quality for prosecutors to conclusively determine what had happened.

Terming the evidence as "inadequate", the DOJ stated, "It is not enough to show that the officer made a mistake, acted negligently, acted by accident or mistake, or even exercised bad judgment."

The federal prosecutors stated that the grainy video fails to reveal details or perspective, as the camera view was blocked by a police patrol car. In addition, the prosecutors remarked that Tamir's hands "are not visible in the video and it cannot be determined from the video what he was doing." 

The ultimate ruling by the court read, "Based on this evidence and the high burdens of the applicable federal laws, career prosecutors have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Tamir did not reach for his toy gun; thus, there is insufficient evidence to establish that Officer Loehmann acted unreasonably under the circumstances."

Additionally, after reviewing the case, retired FBI agent Kimberly Crawford stated the Tamir's shooting was 'justified' and Loehmann's 'response was a reasonable one', reported BBC News. 

Was Loehmann fired from his job? 

In October 2016, Loehmann was fired from his job with the Cleveland Police. But, the reason was not the fatal shooting of Tamir Rice, rather, he was terminated for lying on his job application. 

Prior to his work at the Cleveland Police Department, Loehmann was a police officer at the Cleveland Suburb of Independence in Ohio. There he was deemed to be emotionally immature and unfit for police duty because he had a breakdown on the shooting range, according to Cleveland. Loehmann reportedly failed to disclose this information on his job application and he was appointed to the force as the Cleveland police never reviewed his previous personnel file. 

Afterward, Loehmann sought employment as a part-time officer in the police department of Bellaire, Ohio, but withdrew his application five days later owing to public outrage, reported Ozy. Since then, he has maintained a low public profile and it is unclear what he is doing as a profession ever since.

Recently, it was found that Timothy Loehmann was playing football for a semipro team in Ohio, constituting emergency workers. A few years ago, a new player by the name Tim or Timmy joined the semipro football team. He played with the team for more than two seasons and maintained an introverted nature off the field, with minimal interaction with his teammates. However, during an early 2019 match, an opposition player pointed out that 'the guy that killed Tamir Rice is on that team', reported New York Times in February 2021. 

The discovery led to a slew of protests from the team members, including lineman Randy Knight, who himself is Black. 

Loehmann's lawyer Henry Hilow responded to the outrage saying “Every time he does something now in his life, there’s going to be someone picketing. There’s never been criminal charges against him. Whether people agree or disagree, that’s the reality of the situation.”

Why did Loehmann's colleagues want him back in the force?

The Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association had filed an appeal for the reinstatement of their former colleague Timothy Loehmann to the police job. However, the 8th District Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal by the police union, upon discovering that the union had failed to timely serve the Cleveland city attorneys with its application to overturn an arbitrator’s decision on Timothy Loehmann’s firing, reported AP News. 

The NY Times report indicates that Loehmann has been trying to regain his job with the Cleveland Police and has appealed to overrule his firing. It is believed that Loehmann's former colleagues have supported him in the decision. 

Responding to the dismissal, police union president Jeff Follmer said, “It’s disappointing that the decision wasn’t on the merits of the appeal. We feel that the city was notified correctly. We have a timeline where everything was notified to the city.”

He also added that they will carry their appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.