GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – The Grand Rapids policeman who shot Patrick Lioja after stopping traffic and fighting on April 4 appeared in court on Friday to face one count of second-degree murder..
Kent County Attorney Chris Becker says his office is accusing police officer Christopher Schur of second-degree murder for killing Lioja.
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Kent County Attorney announces charges against Christopher Schur, full press conference
Prosecutor Becker made the announcement at a press conference at the Michigan Grand Rapids State Police Headquarters on Thursday afternoon.
According to Becker, Schur has already surrendered. Records show that Shur became the correctional center of Calhoun County just before 2 p.m.
The Calhoun County Sheriff said Thursday night that Shur is in Calhoun County Jail at the request of the Kent County Sheriff. In a statement, the sheriff’s office said it was common in situations where someone had previously worked for the jurisdiction where he was charged.
“The elements of second-degree murder are relatively simple. First, there was death, a death committed by the defendant. And then, when the murder occurred, the defendant had one of these three states of mind: intent to kill, intent to cause great bodily harm, or intent to commit an act that the natural tendency to do so would be to cause death or grievous bodily harm. damage. Finally, that death is not justified or excused, for example through self-defense. “Looking at everything I’ve looked at in this case, I think there’s enough reason to start with a single second-degree murder bill,” Becker said.
Second-degree murder is a charge of a felony. Shur faces up to life in prison with parole if convicted.
Becker says he plans to file the lawsuit and will not withdraw.
Following the announcement, lawyers Ven Johnson and Ben Crump held a press conference with Patrick’s family.
Lioja family, lawyers react to decision to charge police officer who shot Patrick
“The Kent County Attorney, who certainly never charged another officer, although there have been several shootings with this crime before, how clear he believes this evidence is,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he would receive full support from the Lioya family and their lawyers. Crump issued a statement following Becker’s announcement.
Interactive chronology of events related to the shooting of Patrick Lioya:
THE INCIDENT
It’s April 4, 2022. It’s Monday and it’s raining in Grand Rapids.
Shortly after 8 a.m., a gold Nissan Altima was stopped by a Grand Rapids police officer near the intersection of Griggs Street and Nelson Avenue. The driver, 26-year-old Patrick Lioja, is leaving Nissan.
Body cameras and dashboards, as well as video from observers’ cell phones, capture what happens next.
All videos of Patrick Lioya’s photos
“Stay in the car!” Lioya shouted at the policeman as he got out of his police cruiser. Stay in the car again.
Lioja stays on the driver’s side and looks confused when the policeman approaches and asks for his book; asks him if he speaks English.
“The license plate is not on this car,” Lioya’s policeman explained.
CONNECTED: A video shows a GRPD officer shooting Patrick Lioja in the head
Lioja opens the door, talks to a passenger inside, and after a few minutes of silence closes the car door and begins to walk away without further ado. The officer grabs Lioya’s green sweater and the two begin to fight.
For the next few minutes, Lioya and the officer fought on the lawn of Griggs Street’s home. He was told nine times to stop resisting.
He fired an electric shocker, two minutes after the officer first contacted Lioya. He yells at Lioya to release the device. Both their hands are on him, the video shows.
Eventually, the camera of the police officer’s body was turned off and no longer recorded video. The cause of the malfunction is still being clarified.
In other corners of the fight – a random person’s phone and a neighbor’s Ring camera – the stun gun fires again.
“Let go of the electric shock!” The officer shouted another time.
Seconds later, with Lioya on her stomach and the officer on top, the officer reached back, pulled his pistol from its holster, and fired one shot into Lioya’s head, killing him.
Lioya’s body lies relaxed on the grass.
It had been a little over three minutes since he and the officer had said their first words to each other.
Panting, his breath visible in the humid April air, the officer reached for his radio. He is just steps away from Lioja’s still body.
“1915,” he radioed the number of his badge through heavy breaths, “I just took part in a shooting.”
When he ends his conversation, the sirens in the video begin to fade into the background.
THE VICTIM
Patrick Lioja was born on February 5, 1996 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – the eldest of six children of Peter and Dorcas Lioja.
Lioya has been active and passionate since she was little. He was an avid dancer and football fan.
“He was a jewel in his family and a leader of his brothers and sisters,” said a funeral program written in both English and Lioya’s native Swahili. “Patrick loved the holidays when the whole family got together and celebrated.”
“Patrick was a warm and loving man who would do anything for his family and friends,” she continued.
“Patrick was a loving man, he loved people,” his father told FOX 17 through an interpreter four days after his son’s death. “He was like a brother to me.”
Lioja left the Congo as a teenager, spending several years in a refugee camp in Malawi before moving to the United States at the age of 18. When she arrives, Lioja attends Everett High School in Lansing for a short time. Years later, he will celebrate with a friend he met at the refugee camp at Restoration Community Church, a small Methodist church that shares a building with the Wesley United Methodist in Wyoming.
His pastor, Banza Mukalai, who was also born in the Congo and spent some time in a refugee camp himself, says Lioya could not have been more than 23 when he first entered the church.
“He was very ready to change his life [do] something good, ”Mukalay recalled. “He had a future.”
Like the others in Grand Rapids, on April 13, Mukalai watched videos released live by the Grand Rapids Police Department about Lioja’s murder.
“I was so shocked because it was far from my mind to feel that Patrick could die,” he said. “What happened to Patrick was so discouraging for everyone. Every refugee you talk to will tell you the same thing. We were very discouraged to see how this happened to Patrick.
Photos from rallies:
At a rally in the center of Grand Rapids a few days after Lioja’s death, Jimmy Baruan stoically listened to the shouts of the organizers through megaphones. He is wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with Lioja’s face in front, covered with Justice for Patrick.
Baruan was also born in the Congo and was so close to Lioya after the two met in western Michigan that he called him his brother throughout the interview.
“Every single thing we did, we did together,” Baruan said. “It was a tragedy for all of us. It hurts. It really hurts. “
“We left Africa to come here to feel safe,” Barvan said. “Imagine that you are with someone and the next day he is gone. Someone who meant so much to you is a role model. ”
Lioya was also the father of two young children. In another interview a few weeks later, Barvan showed videos of young children kissing their father’s face on a T-shirt. He says they want him all the time. But they are young – one is less than a year old – and Barvan says they still don’t understand their father’s fate.
The April 4 incident, which ended in his death, was not Lioja’s first meeting with police.
Court documents show that in May 2017, Leah fled the scene – his book was then confiscated.
In March 2021, Michigan State Police arrested Lioya for operating while intoxicated in Alegan County. According to a police report, the officer followed Lioja’s car for two miles and noticed that he was driving at a speed of between 40 and 50 miles per hour. The policeman says that the car crossed the center line three times.
In a preliminary breath test, Lioya’s blood alcohol level was 0.223. The legal limit in Michigan is .08.
FOX17 received a video of the incident, which shows a sharp difference from Lioya’s interaction with the police during the traffic stop in April 2022. Lloya complied with most of the soldier’s requests, although he seemed confused by what was happening. He asked, “What did I do?” several times while the state police interrogated him.
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Video from the arrest of Patrick Lioya in 2021 for a drunken operation in Alegan County
Three days before Lioya was killed, a warrant was issued for his arrest on a single charge of domestic violence against an apparent friend.
Ven Johnson, a lawyer for the Lioya family, called Patrick’s recording “extremely irrelevant” to his murder.
“Everything that is said to be there, the police officer would not have known,” he said. “You’d hear the cop use this in one form or another, like, ‘Hey, man, don’t run, because I know you have a blah order.’ You haven’t heard any of that.”
“It has nothing to do with this case,” Johnson continued. In the 36 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had my client’s criminal history – complete and complete criminal history – enter …
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