Christopher Schurr, the Grand Rapids officer who shot and killed Patrick Lyoya after he ran from the scene of a traffic stop, was charged with second-degree murder Thursday. Schurr unsuccessfully tried to grapple and tase the unarmed and seemingly confused Lyola. Then he sucessfully turned off his bodycam and executed Lyoya with a shot to the back of the head.
Lyoya's shocking killing, caught on police body camera, police dashboard camera, cellphone video, and a nearby doorbell camera, stirred national outrage. Weeks of protests in the majority-white city of Grand Rapids followed the release of the footage, demanding the Grand Rapids Police Department release the name of the officer responsible, and for charges to be brought against him.
Grand Rapids police refused to release the bodycam footage for a week, then refused to disclose Schurr's name. But Schurr's identity was quickly exposed online due to him being identified in the department's own earlier internet postings.
