In Michigan, the family of Patrick Lyoya is demanding that the white Grand Rapids police officer who killed the 26-year-old Congolese refugee be fired and charged with a crime. City officials have yet to name the officer, who is seen in video pulling his service pistol from a holster and firing a fatal shot into Lyoya’s head after a struggle. Patrick’s father, Peter Lyoya, said through an interpreter that he and his family had escaped war and persecution in the Democratic Republic of Congo only to see Patrick killed “like an animal” by a Michigan police officer.
Peter Lyoya: “My heart is really deeply broken. I didn’t know, I didn’t believe that in this country that there is a genocide in this country. I didn’t know. I didn’t know that here in America there can be an execution style to kill someone.”