- Tamir Rice's family criticized a Pennsylvania town for hiring the ex-cop who killed the 12-year-old boy as an Ohio officer.
- Timothy Loehmann resigned from his new officer job in Tioga, Pennsylvania days after being hired.
- "This game of whack-a-mole with Loehmann repeatedly resurfacing as a cop elsewhere needs to end," a lawyer for Rice's family told Insider.
The family of Tamir Rice on Thursday called out "this game of whack-a-mole" after the ex-Cleveland, Ohio cop who shot and killed their son was hired this week to be the sole police officer in a small Pennsylvania town.
Timothy Loehmann, the former cop who fatally gunned down 12-year-old Rice in Cleveland in 2014, resigned from his new officer job in Tioga, Pennsylvania on Thursday following strong backlash to his hiring.
The borough of Tioga — a rural town with a population of roughly 700 — confirmed on its website on Thursday that "effective this morning," Loehmann officially withdrew his application for Tioga Borough Police Officer.
"Although it's a relief that Loehmann will not be inflicting himself with a badge and a gun upon Tioga residents and visitors, borough officials need to be held accountable for their ineptitude and demonstrably poor judgment," Subodh Chandra, an attorney for Rice's family, told Insider.
The lawyer added, "We're investigating. This game of whack-a-mole with Loehmann repeatedly resurfacing as a cop elsewhere needs to end."
After Loehmann was sworn in on Tuesday, local residents protested the move at the town's offices, according to Cleveland.com.
Tioga Mayor David Wilcox said he was "under the impression that there was a thorough background check into" Loehmann and that "he didn't have any issues," the news outlet reported.
Rice, who was Black, was playing with a pellet gun outside of a recreation center when he was fatally shot by Loehmann, who is white. A grand jury declined to indict Loehmann in 2015, and two years later he was fired from the Cleveland Police Department.
In 2018, Loehmann was hired by another police department in rural Ohio. He quit that part-time gig in the Village of Bellaire shortly after he was hired following more protests.
