Organizers hold space for Patrick Lyoya during candlelight vigil on the 2nd anniversary of his murder

Last night, about 50 people gathered in front of the Kent County Court building to collectively grieve over the murder of Patrick Lyoya. It has been two years since a GRPD cop shot Patrick in the back of the head, while sitting on top of the Congolese immigrant.

The Comrades Collective hosted the event last night and one of the Collective members addressed the crowd. They talked about what happened to Patrick on April 4th, 2022. They also spoke about what justice for Patrick Lyoya might look like.

The speaker would often break up their talk by inserting chants, which the crowd quickly responded to. The speaker asked question of those in attendance, eliciting various responses that also motivated those who had gathered on the chilling evening in downtown Grand Rapids. There were also long pauses from the speaker, which might have made some people uncomfortable, but we all should feel uncomfortable with the fact that the GRPD can shoot someone in the back of the head without any real accountability or consequences.

The Comrades Collective then invited people to join a march they are hosting this Saturday, with details you can find on their Facebook event.

Afterwards, other people were invited to share some thoughts. Several people offered up some words of solidarity, plus Patrick Lyoya spoke through an interpreter. He said the he was delighted with the turn and expressed gratitude for those who organized the event.

Lastly, the Comrades Collective put out a statement for the event, which I’m including here below.

Comrades Collective Statement on the 2nd Anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder at the hands of the GRPD

As police abolitionists, we want far more than what the system that killed Patrick Lyoya can offer – because the system that killed him is not set up to provide justice for his family and loved ones.

It has been two years since GRPD cop Christopher Schurr, while sitting on top of a face down on the ground Patrick Lyoya, shot him in the back of the head. In the past two years Patrick Lyoya and his family have not received an ounce of justice.

The GRPD released Christopher Schurr has a member of the GRPD, but that was meant to pacify us. Schurr’s lawyers have been playing legal chess games to keep him from going to trial and the Kent County Prosecutor doesn’t seem to be bothered by the constant delays of the legal system.

As abolitionists, the Comrades Collective understands that Patrick Lyoya and his family haven’t received justice, because the current legal system cannot provide real justice. We are not calling for better training for the GRPD or mild reforms, we are calling for the abolition of policing in Grand Rapids.

Now, we know that abolition is a process and won’t happen over night. As we work towards abolition, we are demanding that the City of Grand Rapids end the practice of traffic stops, particularly for BIPOC individuals. Patrick’s murder wouldn’t have happened if there was no traffic stop that morning.

We want an abolition focus, with accountability to the whole system, not just for Christopher Schurr being held accountable, because it will just happen again with another officer if we don’t look at the whole picture. When Christopher Schurr shot Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, it was not about some character flaw in Schurr, it was because of how policing functions in this city.

We want to live in a city where everyone’s needs are met. We want community care, not cops. We demand the abolition of the GRPD because we believe that the $64 Million of taxpayer money that went to the GRPD for FY2024 could be used for real harm reduction and community care. Imagine how many lives could be uplifted if $64 Million was going to the most vulnerable in our city and not to a system that is rooted in punishment and violence.

The great abolitionist Angela Davis once said, “We have to be consistent in our analysis and not respond to violence in a way that compounds it. We need to use our radical imaginations to to come up with new structures of accountability beyond the system we are working to dismantle.”

Justice for Patrick Lyoya!