Patrick Lyoya

Patrick Lyoya, 26, a Congolese refugee, was shot in the back of the head by Grand Rapids, Michigan Police Officer Christopher Schurr during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. Lyoya ran after Schurr pulled him over for a mismatched license plate; Schurr caught him, and the two struggled over Schurr's Taser for roughly two and a half minutes before Schurr, straddling Lyoya face-down on the ground, fired a single shot into the back of his head. Schurr was fired and charged with second-degree murder in June 2022, becoming one of the few Michigan officers ever criminally charged for an on-duty killing. After a three-year legal battle, his trial began in April 2025; a jury deliberated over 20 hours across four days before deadlocking, and a mistrial was declared on May 8, 2025. Kent County's prosecutor announced on May 22, 2025 that he would not seek a retrial, concluding a second trial was unlikely to produce a different result. No one has ever been convicted in Lyoya's death.

Grand Rapids, MI · Kent County

• 2022: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the roughly two-and-a-half-minute struggle over the Taser, and the fatal shot, per body camera, dashcam, and bystander cellphone video released by the Grand Rapids Police Department.
• Schurr was on top of Lyoya, who was face-down on the ground, when he fired the single fatal shot to the back of Lyoya's head.
• Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker charged Schurr with second-degree murder in June 2022; Schurr was fired from the department the same month.
• Lyoya's autopsy showed a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal driving limit, and a witness testified he had been drinking the day before his death.
• The jury of 14 (12 regular jurors plus two alternates), predominantly white, deliberated more than 20 hours over four days before telling the court it was deadlocked; Judge Christina Mims declared a mistrial on May 8, 2025.
• Prosecutor Becker announced on May 22, 2025 that he would not seek a retrial, stating he did not believe a second trial would produce a different verdict.
• A separate federal civil rights lawsuit against Schurr and the city remains active; a judge denied Schurr's motion to dismiss it, and a jury trial was scheduled for October 2026.

• Whether Schurr reasonably believed his life was in danger at the moment he fired — the central question of the case — was contested by dueling use-of-force experts at trial and left unresolved by the hung jury.
• The specific numerical split of the deadlocked jury has not been made public.
• Whether Lyoya, face-down on the ground with Schurr on top of him, still posed the "jeopardy" to Schurr that the defense argued justified deadly force was disputed by the prosecution and never resolved by any verdict.

• Michigan Advance — “Kent County Prosecutor declines to retry former Grand Rapids police officer in motorist's death”
• Wikipedia — “Killing of Patrick Lyoya” (sourced case history)
• WOOD TV8 — “Judge won't throw out civil lawsuit against former officer in Patrick Lyoya's death”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs