(WXYZ) — Grand Rapids Police Officer Christopher Schurr is being charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker announced on Thursday.
According to Becker, it's a felony offense punishable by up to life in prison with the possibility of parole. He wanted to reiterate that Schurr is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Becker said the shooting meets the elements of a second-degree murder charge: First, there was a death, death done by the defendant, and when the killing occurred, the defendant had one of these three states of mind: "Intent to kill, intent to do great bodily harm, or the intent to do an act tha tthe natural tendency of that act would be to cause death or great bodily harm, and finally that the death was not justifiable or excused," Becker said.
"I believe there is a sufficient basis to proceed with one count of second-degree murder," he added.
Lyoya died on April 4 after he was shot in the back of the head by an officer. He was pulled over at the intersection of Griggs and Nelson the city’s southeast side. He was driving the vehicle and there was a passenger.
Video released by police showed Lyoya get out of the car and then struggle with Schurr.
He was on the ground with the officer on his back when the shooting happened.
According to CNN, Schurr said in records that Lyoya “has my taser.”
An autopsy found he died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, and that his blood-alcohol level was more than three times the state’s legal limit of .08.
Becker said that he spoke with Lyoya's family and also had a letter written to them in Swahili to read.
