Michigan Cop Who Fatally Shot Patrick Lyoya In The Back Of The Head During Traffic Stop Identified Three Weeks Later

The Grand Rapids Police Department final­ly has released the name of the offi­cer who shot and killed a Black motorist after he attempt­ed to flee dur­ing a traf­fic stop. Despite local law enforce­ment promis­ing to be trans­par­ent regard­ing the inves­ti­ga­tion, the fam­i­ly and oth­er com­mu­ni­ty activists believe the “three-week delay in releas­ing the name” of the cop who shot the man is “offen­sive.”

On Monday, April 25, offi­cer Christopher Schurr, who has been placed on admin­is­tra­tive leave, was iden­ti­fied as the per­son who fatal­ly shot an unarmed African immi­grant, Patrick Lyoya, on April 4. The deci­sion to make pub­lic Schurr’s iden­ti­ty comes days after Lyoya’s funer­al, held on Friday, April 22 at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ, where Rev. Al Sharpton said, “Every time a young Black man or woman is arrest­ed in this town, you put their name all over the news. Every time we’re sus­pect­ed of some­thing, you put our name out there.

The civ­il rights leader added, before demand­ing the officer’s name be released, “How dare you hold the name of a man that killed this man. We want his name!”

GRPD chief Eric Winstrom released a state­ment, say­ing the city has a “long-stand­ing prac­tice of with­hold­ing names of any employ­ee under inves­ti­ga­tion until the con­clu­sion of an admin­is­tra­tive investigation.”

“Additionally, while it has been a long-stand­ing prac­tice of the Grand Rapids Police Department to with­hold the name of indi­vid­u­als who have not been arrest­ed or charged with a crime – a prac­tice that applies to all pub­lic employ­ees, police offi­cers, and mem­bers of the pub­lic – police reform requires eval­u­at­ing many long-stand­ing prac­tices to ensure our actions are con­sis­tent with the best inter­ests of the com­mu­ni­ty and the indi­vid­u­als involved,” he wrote.

He revealed, “the force decid­ed to release Schurr’s name in “the inter­est of trans­paren­cy, to reduce on-going spec­u­la­tion, and to avoid any fur­ther confusion.”
However, lawyers for the deceased’s fam­i­ly disagree.

Ven Johnson said in a state­ment, “An inten­tion­al three-week delay in releas­ing the name of the involved offi­cer, which they clear­ly knew at the moment of the shoot­ing, is offen­sive and the exact oppo­site of being ‘trans­par­ent.’”

“Once again,” he con­tin­ued. “We see the Grand Rapids Police Department tak­ing care of its own at the expense of the family’s men­tal health and well-being.” Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack, a pub­lic offi­cial who has been stand­ing with the fam­i­ly, is pleased with the deci­sion to release Schurr, who joined the force in 2015.

“I’m glad they final­ly released his name after hav­ing nation­al pres­sure from nation­al lead­er­ship com­ing to Grand Rapids,” Womack said.

“The com­mu­ni­ty had been ask­ing for his name for the last 24 days, and when the com­mu­ni­ty heard it would not be released unless he was charged,” he revealed.

After hear­ing that, Womack says he “men­tioned it to Ben Crump and Al Sharpton” and was glad to hear “Al Sharpton speak on the sub­ject in the funeral.”
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Bodycam, dash­board footage, home secu­ri­ty video and a visu­al from Lyoya’s rid­ing companion’s cell phone show Lyoya try­ing to run away from the offi­cer after he is detained over the valid­i­ty of his vehi­cle registration.

At one point, it appears the 26-year-old is reach­ing for the cop’s taser gun while the two are wrestling. Toward the end, Schurr is hunched over the man before shoot­ing him in the head.

Lyoya’s fam­i­ly has retained foren­sic pathol­o­gist Dr. Werner Spitz, who l revealed last week he believed Schurr’s gun was pressed firm­ly into the back of Lyoya’s head before he was shot.

The deceased died from that one injury.

Schurr grad­u­at­ed eight years ago from Sienna Heights University with a degree in crim­i­nal jus­tice, accord­ing to an inter­view he did with MLive in 2014. While in school, he and his then-fiancée were mis­sion­ar­ies in Africa, bring­ing their Christian faith and build­ing hous­es in Kisi, Kenya, which is over 1,100 miles away from Lyoya’s birth­place, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The state­ment on Monday said an offi­cial autop­sy has not been released by author­i­ties, but will be made pub­lic in the near future.

Kent County pros­e­cu­tors said they will be wait­ing on the autop­sy, and for the state police to con­clude their inves­ti­ga­tion before decid­ing to charge Schurr for Lyoya’s murder.