Tamir Rice’s Killer Gets FIRED By Cleveland Police Department, But Not For What You Think

The Cleveland police officer that shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice has been fired. Get the latest inside…

There are new updates in relation to Tamir Rice’s fatal shooting.

Today, the Cleveland Police Department fired the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice outside of the Cudell Recreation Center in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014. The officers believed Tamir was carrying a weapon, but it turned out to be a toy gun.

Cleveland officials held a news conference today where they announced Timothy Loehmann, the officer who fired the fatal shot, would be terminated immediately. Officer Frank Gamback, who was driving the patrol car, has been suspended for 10 days beginning Wednesday, May 31st. The reason stated is that following an investigation, Officer Loehmann was found to have broken rules during his application process.

The NY Times reports:

The decision came after what Mayor Frank Jackson of Cleveland called an “exhaustive process” of investigation.

Cleveland’s chief of police, Calvin Williams, said at the news conference that Mr. Loehmann’s firing was effective immediately. Mr. Garmback would be required to take an additional tactical training course.

“This has been tough on our entire community, and definitely on the Rice family,” said Mr. Williams. “When this happened in 2014, I made the comment that this is of course a tragedy, but it’s even more tragic that it happened at the hands of a Cleveland police officer.”

The officers were dispatched after Tamir was reported for playing with a pellet gun near a recreation center. Though the caller specified that the gun was “probably fake,” that information was not communicated to the responding officers. Video released after the incident showed that Officer Loehmann shot Tamir within two seconds of the patrol car pulling up beside the boy.

You’ll recall, a grand jury decided NOT to criminally charge any of the officers involved in the shooting in 2015. Folks were pissed, launching nationwide protests. It was reported the city of Cleveland will pay Tamir's family $6 million to settle a lawsuit. By the way, Tamir would have turned 15-years-old next month.

While the officer who took Tamir’s life will not suffer the consequences in prison, at least he’s off the street where he can’t do the same thing again.  It is interesting, though, that he lost his job over lying on an application yet escaped major repercussions of killing an unarmed teen.

Photo: NY Times

source: theybf