No verdict, mistrial declared, in trial of Michigan police officer who killed Congolese immigrant

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after a Michigan jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in the second-degree murder trial of a police officer who shot Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, in the back of the head following a traffic stop in 2022.

The result came at the start of the fourth day of deliberations and was a partial victory for Christopher Schurr, who still could face another trial. The killing of Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant and father of two, sparked weeks of protest in Grand Rapids, especially after the city’s police chief released video of the confrontation.

“It hurts my family, my wife. We are bleeding. We are in pain,” Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, said of the outcome, speaking through an interpreter. “We’ll continue to fight until we get true justice for Patrick.”

Defense attorney Matthew Borgula said he talked to jurors and learned that most wanted to acquit Schurr.

“We cannot declare victory because there really is no winning here. A man died, and that is a very serious thing," Borgula told reporters.

The mistrial occurred a day after three former Memphis police officers were acquitted in the beating death of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop. His death was the first post-George Floyd case that revealed the limits of an unprecedented reckoning over police reform and racial injustice in Black America.

Schurr shot Lyoya while on top of the 26-year-old, who was facedown on the ground. Schurr told jurors he feared for his life after losing control of his Taser during an intense struggle across front yards in a residential neighborhood.

Videos were an important part of the trial and were repeatedly shown to the jury, including critical images recorded by a man who was with Lyoya. The struggle with the Taser, which fires electrically charged probes, was central to Schurr’s defense.

The 34-year-old stared straight ahead as the mistrial was declared. One spectator sitting near the Lyoya family loudly objected to the result as he left the courtroom. Few members of the general public were present compared to earlier in the trial.

Judge Christina Mims had urged the jurors to keep working after they said Tuesday that they were struggling to reach a consensus. Besides murder, they also could consider a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Lyoya’s family wants a second trial. Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker said he would need more time to decide, adding that he won't “bow to public pressure” from supporters or critics.

“We thought we put a good case forward. Obviously the jury thought differently,” Becker said.

The shooting happened on April 4, 2022, when Schurr, who was patrolling alone, stopped a Nissan Altima for improper license plates and requested Lyoya's driver’s license.

Body camera and dash camera footage showed Lyoya running and the officer tackling him. They struggled and the officer wasn't able to subdue Lyoya with a Taser, which Lyoya was able to grab. Schurr repeatedly demanded he stop resisting and drop the Taser, then fired one bullet into his head.

Schurr testified he was “running on fumes” after the fight and in great fear because a Taser can cause “excruciating pain.”

“I believed that if I hadn’t done it at that time, I wasn’t going to go home,” Schurr said of shooting Lyoya.

The prosecutor, however, argued that the Taser had already been deployed twice by Schurr and could only be used in a different mode if Lyoya had decided to turn it against the officer.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Becker said the jury was divided over the threat of the Taser and whether to focus on the exact moment of the shooting or the entirety of the encounter.

It’s not known why Lyoya was trying to flee. Records show his driver’s license was revoked at the time and there was an arrest warrant for him in a domestic violence case, though Schurr didn’t know it. An autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol level was three times above the legal limit for driving.

Besides Schurr’s account of that day, jurors heard from witnesses who were described as experts in the use of force. Some were Schurr's fellow officers at the Grand Rapids department who supported him.

Defense experts said the decision to use deadly force was justified because the exhausted officer could have been seriously injured if Lyoya had used the Taser. The prosecutor’s experts, however, said Schurr had other choices, including simply letting the driver run.

Schurr, a Grand Rapids officer for seven years, was fired shortly after he was charged.

Lyoya’s family has said they came to the U.S. to escape prolonged civil unrest in eastern Congo. Lyoya ultimately joined a list of other Black immigrants who sought better lives in the U.S. only to suffer abuse or death at the hands of law enforcement, including Botham Jean, Amadou Diallo and Abner Louima.

White reported from Detroit.

Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr appears at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Judge Christina Mims declares a mistrial after the jury could not reach a verdict in the murder trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Body worn camera footage showing former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr with a Taser7 and Patrick Lyoya is shown during the third day at the Kent County Courthouse with his wife Brandey in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Supporters of former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr hug after Judge Christina Mims declared a mistrial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr appears at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thursday, May 8, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Patrick Lyoya's parents Dorcas, left, and Peter talk with translator Israel Siku, right, during a break in the sixth day of trial for former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr, who is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a Congolese immigrant, at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday, May 5, 2025. (Joel Bissell/MLive.com/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Former Grand Rapids Police officer Christopher Schurr sits in court during the second day of his trial at the Kent County Courthouse in Grand Rapids, Mich., Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Schurr is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese immigrant during a traffic stop on April 4, 2022. (WOOD-TV via AP, Pool)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)