It’s been more than two months since Patrick Lyoya was shot and killed by Grand Rapids Police Officer Christopher Schurr following a scuffle at an April traffic stop. For his father Peter Lyoya it’s been a long period of waiting and heartache.
“Still today my heart and the heart of my family are still broken,” Lyoya said.
On Thursday, Lyoya’s family saw action from the judicial system, when Kent County Prosecuting Attorney, Christopher Becker, charged Schurr with second-degree murder. Becker said it’s the highest offense he could take to court.
However, Peter Lyoya says it doesn’t take away from the pain.
“Until when I see that he has been fired, he has been arrested and serving time and paying for what he has done, that’s when my heart will be happy and I will feel the relief,” he said.
Lyoya adds after watching his first-born son being killed on cell phone and body camera footage, the Congolese refugee and his family are skeptical about what lies ahead.
“I didn’t not have any faith with any American judicial system,” he said. “…My faith is in God and second is in the lawyer and everybody that is helping me and I hope that we’ll get really, really justice.”
Becker said he’s confident in his abilities to prosecute the case, saying, “I wouldn’t charge him if I didn’t think I could prove it.”
Organizations like the Grand Rapids Police Officer Association backed Schurr’s action over the past month, saying they believe a review of this situation will show “an officer has the legal right to protect themselves and community in a volatile, dangerous situation such as this.”
Schurr has turned himself into police and will be arraigned on Friday.
