Mourners throw the Black Power Fist during the funeral of Patrick Lyoya, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids Police officer during a traffic stop on April 4, at Renaissance Church of God in Christ in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Mourners throw the Black Power Fist during the funeral of Patrick Lyoya, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by a Grand Rapids Police officer during a traffic stop on April 4, at Renaissance Church of God in Christ in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S., April 22, 2022. Reuters / MICHAEL MCCOY

A Michigan prosecutor said a charge of second-degree murder was filed on Thursday against a white police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids two months ago.

The decision to charge officer Christopher Schurr in the April 4 shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, was announced at a news conference by Christopher Becker, the Kent County prosecuting attorney.

The killing of Lyoya outraged members of his family and touched off protests by activists who condemned the shooting as an example of unjustified deadly force by police against young Black men.

A forensic pathologist who performed an independent autopsy on Lyoya said the officer held his gun to the back of the man's head and fired once.

Becker said Schurr had turned himself in to authorities and would be arraigned on Friday. A charge of second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.