After Lyoya began to flee the scene, Schurr attempted to detain him, unsuccessfully fired a taser at Lyoya, and then Lyoya attempted to disarm Officer Schurr of the weapon. Ultimately, Lyoya was successful in disarming Officer Schurr. Officer Schurr then discharged one round from his firearm. As news of the shooting and videos of the incident were released, public protests occurred to denounce the officer's actions, to demand the reform of the GRPD, and for the recusal of the prosecutor handling the case due to alleged conflicts of interest.
Per protocol, investigations of the shooting were performed by a non-involved entity, with the Michigan State Police assuming responsibility. On June 9, , Schurr was charged with second-degree murder , alleging that the death was intentional and not justified as self-defense , facing up to life in prison with the possibility of parole if convicted.
Patrick Lyoya was a refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo , a nation experiencing unrest fueled by repeated foreign intervention since the overthrow and execution of Patrice Lumumba , which was organized by Belgium and the Central Intelligence Agency , that led to the Congo Crisis and subsequent conflicts. In , the family received asylum in the United States.
Lyoya often assisted fellow refugees who were establishing themselves in the Grand Rapids area. The officer identified as shooting Lyoya is Christopher Schurr, who received a criminal justice degree from Siena Heights University in May Beginning this week, as required by law, the Grand Rapids Police Department GRPD will be releasing documents in response to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act relative to this incident.
Police killings in Michigan had been occurring at an increasing rate in the years leading to the shooting and proposed legislation to reform policing practices following the murder of George Floyd were never enacted. According to MLive , controversial incidents involving GRPD officers and people of color continued, with the news outlet listing events where a year-old black girl was handcuffed, two Latinos boys were approached at gunpoint and handcuffed for walking in the road and in September a black man was accidentally arrested at gunpoint preparing for the wake of his mother-in-law after matching the description of the suspect.
