Tamir RIce protests

Demonstrators protesting the shooting death of Tamir Rice block a police cruiser on East 13th Street in downtown Cleveland last month.

(Adam Ferrise, Northeast Ohio Media Group)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November, previously failed the written test to become a deputy with Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, according to records released on Wednesday.

In September 2013, Loehmann scored a 46 percent on the department's written cognitive exam, administered by Cuyahoga Community College and given to potential recruits. Seventy percent is considered a passing score. Recruits are tested on problem-solving, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Other records show Loehmann did pass the department's physical exam, which requires applicants to perform at least 27 pushups in a minute and run a mile and a half in less than 16 minutes and 36 seconds, among other tasks.

Northeast Ohio Media Group reported on Tuesday that Loehmann had been rejected for a deputy sheriff job that he had applied for in September 2013. The county released Loehmann's job application and exam scores in response to a public records request. (Scroll down to read them.)

Loehmann was among 35 applicants who passed the physical exam but failed the written test, the records show.

Loehmann previously also was unsuccessful in getting jobs with police departments in Akron, Euclid and Parma Heights. He had been looking for a police job since he resigned from the Independence police department in November 2012 following a poor performance review. He had worked there for five months.

Loehmann eventually landed a job with the Cleveland police department in March 2014. The city's background check did not turn up the Independence performance review.

On Nov. 22, while responding to a report that someone was waving a gun near a recreation center on the city's West Side, Loehmann shot Tamir as his partner, Frank Garmback, pulled their cruiser near the boy. Tamir turned out to be in possession of an airsoft-type replica gun.

The boy's shooting has resulted in weeks of demonstrations.

The sheriff's office is now investigating the shooting. The two officers involved with the incident are on restricted duty.

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the Tamir Rice shooting took place on Nov. 23.