The Grand Rapids Police Department has released the name of the officer who fatally shot 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya earlier this month.
“In the interest of transparency, to reduce on-going speculation, and to avoid any further confusion, I am confirming the name already publicly circulating — Christopher Schurr — as the officer involved in the April 4 Officer Involved Shooting,” GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom said in a Monday statement.
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Schurr is on administrative leave until both the internal investigation from GRPD and the independent investigation from Michigan State Police are complete, Winstrom shared.
In a statement, City Manager Mark Washington said Winstrom had given him a warning he was releasing Schurr’s name. He said he “supports the decision and appreciates (Winstrom’s) leadership and commitment to transparency.”
The statement comes after weeks of family, community members and civil rights activists — including Rev. Al Sharpton’s at Patrick Lyoya’s funeral last week — calling on GRPD to publish the officer’s name. Winstrom previously said he would not disclose the name unless or until the officer was charged.
“Are you saying … that if he’s never charged, we’ll never know his name? Are you setting a legal precedent now that if a policeman kills somebody on video tape that he’s holding down and shoots in the back of the head, that if the grand jury don’t charge him, that we will never know his name?” Sharpton said at the funeral. “I come from New York to tell you that we’re not going to let that precedent stand.”
Patrick Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, said since learning of his son’s death he had two wishes: to see his son’s body and to learn the identity of the man who fatally shot his son.
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“Truly, ever since when I buried Patrick and I lost Patrick, my heart doesn’t have any peace at all,” Peter Lyoya, who does not speak English, said through an interpreter. “I’m still mourning and I don’t know if I will ever find that rest and peace because I will never replace Patrick.”
“What is left now and what I’m asking now is for the Department of Justice to take this case and bring justice for my son Patrick,” Peter Lyoya said via his interpreter. “I would never want another parent to go through what I’m going through, to see another kid be killed by an officer. So what I’m asking really is for this officer to be arrested, to be brought to justice and to serve some time in prison.”