Civil Rights & Constitutional Law
Counsel for Tamir Rice's family ask Attorney General Garland to reopen investigation into Timothy...
April 16, 2021
Friday, December 19, 2025

Tamir Rice, slain by Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmack in November 2014
Slatyfork, WV – Today, in a unanimous vote, the board of directors of the Snowshoe Resort Community District, a municipality created by the State of West Virginia, fired Timothy Loehmann—killer of child Tamir Rice—from his position as an armed ranger.
The vote took place in public, accessible by a Google meeting, after an executive session in an emergency meeting of the board. In the chat of that Google meeting, Snowshoe residents expressed dismay about Loehmann's hiring.
It followed a published report by Dragline, a publication of the ACLU of West Virginia, about Loehmann's secret hiring months ago. Comments by the board chair during the meeting suggested that public outcry ensued.
No information is apparently available about action following the Dragline report that Donald "Smokey" Belin, the Sheriff of Gilmer County, WV, also hired Loehmann as a deputy sheriff. He has not returned a voicemail left by Samaria Rice, Tamir's bereaved mother.
Subodh Chandra, Samaria Rice's counsel, said:
Everytime Timothy Loehmann is misentrusted with a badge and a gun—and at least five communities have done so since Cleveland fired him for lying on his employment application—it makes Samaria Rice and her grieving family distraught. Loehmann's determination to inflict himself on other people seems pathological. So does the craven poor judgment required by any public officials who hire him.
Ms. Rice is grateful for the outpouring of support and local community concern that led to this decision to fire Loehmann. But it never should have been necessary in the first place. Ms. Rice awaits an accounting of how the hiring decision happened, who was responsible, and what is being done to hold the offenders—and not just Loehmann—accountable.
In West Sulphur Spring, WV, another community where this happened, for example, responsible public officials and employee lost their positions. That should happen here.
Chandra added, "I am personally proud of Ms. Rice for the determination and strength she shows every time this happens. Loehmann and public officials need to get the message that she will never relent in seeking justice for her son."
Samaria Rice added, "I still don't understand how anyone can ever possibly hire Timothy Loehmann. I am happy that the community stood up once again, and I'm grateful for all of that support because I wouldn't want another child to experience what Tamir and our family experienced. It's a life-changing experience—and not for the better."
Snowshoe Resort Community District's lawyers continue to stonewall The Chandra Law Firm's West Virginia Freedom of Information Act request for public records surrounding Loehmann's employment and the decision to hire him.
Loehmann escaped homicide charges for killing Tamir under dubious circumstances, in which assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutors let him give a speech to a grand jury without facing cross examination. Chandra has described this as "special, coddling treatment that no other target of a criminal investigation would ever be afforded."
News reports surfaced of political interference with Department of Justice career prosecutors' recommendations that Loehmann face a federal indictment.
The civil case against Loehmann and the City of Cleveland, in which Chandra law co-represented Tamir Rice's estate, resulted in a record $6 million settlement, paid by Cleveland taxpayers.
Since the City of Cleveland, Ohio fired Loehmann in May 2017 for lying on his application, and not for killing Tamir, Loehmann has been hired by, and then resigned from or terminated by at least the following public entities after public outcry:
Village of Bellaire Police Department, Ohio – He was hired as a part-time police officer in 2018 but withdrew his application after public backlash. https://www.wvva.com
Tioga Borough Police Department, Pennsylvania – Loehmann was hired and sworn in in July 2022 as the sole police officer but resigned/withdrew shortly thereafter amid intense community outcry. https://www.wvva.com
White Sulphur Springs Police Department, West Virginia – He was hired in 2024 but resigned early in the job following public controversy. https://www.wvva.com
Snowshoe Resort Community District, West Virginia – According to public records reported in late 2025, he was hired starting in June (employment status and details vary by source), but fired today. https://www.dragline.org/stories/officer-who-killed-12-year-old-tamir-rice-just-got-two-more-police-jobs-in-west-virginia
Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office, West Virginia – Public records cited by some reports list him as hired in August, though the sheriff’s office reportedly denied he was employed there when asked. Whether that is true is unclear.
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