The Michigan police officer who shot Patrick Lioja in the head has been in the Grand Rapids department for seven years after playing a pole vaulter in a small college and marrying his longtime girlfriend during a church mission in Africa.
Christopher Schur’s name has been circulating since his face appeared in videos of the April 4 clash with Lioya, a black man. But his identity was not publicly acknowledged until Monday, when the police department changed course and released him, three days after the passionate request for the funeral of the 26-year-old Congolese.
Chief Eric Winstrom said he was acting “in the interests of transparency to reduce ongoing speculation and avoid further confusion”.
After the shooting and the release of the video, Winstrom said he would keep the police officer’s name unless charged with a crime. This was described as a long-standing practice applicable to both the public and city officials.
The Associated Press left a phone call asking for a comment from Shur, who remained out of work while state police investigated the shooting.
WATCH The video shows minutes before Lioja’s death:
Police have released videos of Patrick Lioya’s shooting
Police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have released several videos that appear to show Patrick Lioya’s deadly shooting from behind after a traffic stop. 1:22
Lioya’s family and black leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, have repeatedly called for transparency and the release of the name.
“We want his name!” Sharpton shouted at Lioja’s funeral, saying authorities could not set a precedent for hiding the names of police officers who kill people unless the officer is charged.
“Every time a young black man or woman is arrested in this city, you put their name on the news. Every time we suspect something, you put our name there,” Sharpton said. “How dare you keep the name of the man who killed this man? We want his name!”
Lioja, who was unarmed, was on the ground when he was shot. Shur was on top of him, and the video shows him insisting on removing his hand from the officer’s taser.
A forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy at the family’s request said the gun was pressed against Lioja’s head when he was shot.
Wen Johnson, the family’s lawyer, said it was important for Lioja’s parents to already know Shur’s name, although he scoffed at the police chief’s use of “transparency”.
This video footage shows a Grand Rapids police officer holding Lioja before he was shot in the head. The police officer involved was identified Monday as Christopher Schur. (Grand Rapids Police Department)
“It’s not transparent when you’re hiding something for three weeks. The opposite is true, “Johnson said. “The cops are taking care of the cops instead of treating it like a normal investigation.”
After the funeral, Grand Rapids City manager Mark Washington confirmed the request for the employee’s name and said he would discuss the issue with Winstrom and city employment officials.
“Police reform requires an assessment of many years of practice to ensure that our actions are in the best interests of the community and those affected,” Washington said last week.
Shur, 31, grew up in Byron Center, south of Grand Rapids, and joined the police force in 2015 after attending Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan, where he studied accounting and was a pole vaulter.
He was active in his church when he was younger, making missionary trips to the Reformed Church of Corinth at the Byron Center, according to a 2014 story in Vaulter magazine, a publication on sports.
Shur said he would get married the same year and could not afford to have a wedding and take a separate trip to Kisi, Kenya to build homes, so he decided to get married there.
“We will have a wedding in their style,” Shur told the magazine. “I already have African clothes and my fiancée will choose some fabric and make a Kenyan-style dress.”
A Twitter account with his name, which appears to belong to the officer, is followed by several national athletes, including pole vaulters. There are no tweets associated with the account. It looks like a Facebook page named Schurr has been removed.
Add Comment