The Michigan cop charged with killing Patrick Lyoya has been fired, AP News reports. After waiving his rights to a hearing, Christopher Schurr was dismissed from the Grand Rapids police force.
Schurr’s dismissal was brought forth by Chief Eric Winstrom and followed the second-degree murder charge that was filed on Wednesday (June 15). He worked as a Grand Rapids officer for seven years.
On April 4, Lyoya was shot and killed by Schurr during a traffic stop after the officer claims he was stopped for a faulty license plate. Ultimately, the victim ran away from the officer who attempted to detain him for failure to produce a driver’s license.
In 2014, Lyoya’s family fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United States in order to escape violence. An interpreter was used to relay messages for the Congolese family who disputed police claims of the incident and demanded that a video of the incident be released to the public.
As previously reported by REVOLT, further evidence was revealed showcasing the entire confrontation through dashcam and bodycam videos. Other materials included cell phone footage and recordings from a neighbor’s doorbell security camera.
Sources revealed that the Grand Rapids Police Department omitted parts of their footage in order to “protect the privacy of some.” At the same time, they shared that no audio was edited in any parts of the video.
Lyoya’s parents previously insisted the officer to be held accountable for killing their son. Prior to being let go, Schurr was placed on leave to allow time for an investigation led by state police and prosecutor Chris Becker.
“Two words: about time. What took so long?” said an attorney for the family, Ven Johnson. “They knew this was excessive force and they put him on paid leave while the family buried their son in the middle of the rain.”