BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Amid a firestorm of controversy, the former Cleveland police officer who killed Tamir Rice withdrew from his new police officer position in Pennsylvania.

Borough Mayor David Wilcox swore in Timothy Loehmann on Tuesday night after the borough council voted to approve his hiring as a police officer in the community of about 700 residents. Tioga, a community of about 600 in rural north-central Pennsylvania, is 300 miles from Cleveland.

The move set off local protests in the borough, about eight miles south of the New York state line in northern Tioga County, along with a firestorm of criticism on social media. 

On Thursday morning, Tioga Borough Council President Steve Hazlett posted a brief update on his Facebook page, writing, “Effective this morning, Timothy Loehmann has officially withdrawn his application for the Tioga Borough police position.” The post has since been deleted, but Hazlett confirmed the statement by phone Thursday to the USA TODAY Network.

Hazlett said withdrawing from consideration was Loehmann’s idea.

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In 2014, after responding to a 911 call, Loehmann fatally shot Tamir, who was 12. Tamir was holding a pellet gun at the time. The shooting sparked protests across the nation.

In a 2015 post on his Facebook page, which was deleted Thursday, Hazlett shared a post on Facebook with a link related to the 2014 shooting, and Hazlett wrote on the post, “Dumb enough to pull a fake gun, dumb enough to get shot.”

Hazlett didn’t respond to a question Thursday asking about the 2015 social media post.

Tioga’s decision to hire Loehmann was also sharply criticized by Cleveland attorney Subodh Chandra, who co-represented the estate and family of Tamir Rice.

“Tioga officials apparently don’t care whether a police officer was considered mentally unfit for one department, lied on his application to another, rushed upon and slew a child, and then lied about calling out warnings to Tamir —when his window was rolled up on a winter’s day,” he wrote in a statement posted on his law firm’s website. “Loehmann — who should never again be entrusted with a badge and gun — is shamelessly determined to inflict himself upon other communities.”