GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Tuesday is one year since Patrick Lyoya was killed during a traffic stop in Grand Rapids. For those who knew him best, it was a difficult day.
"Every time when I think about Patrick, and how he was murdered, it really hurt my heart," says Patrick's father, Peter Lyoya, through a translator. "It's like a knife in my heart."
A year later, and the pain is still the same.
"You can see that it's really emotional for him," says translator Israel Siku.
Peter says the most hurtful part is there still has been no justice for his son.
"What is so astonishing and hurting both to me and my entire family is to see that the murderer who murdered my son is still living at his house," says Lyoya.
As the trial approaches, however, he feels positive.
"I have faith," says Lyoya. "And I believe that by October, when we go there, I will be given justice about my son because this is a country of justice."
Peter says talking to Patrick's children about his death has been impossible.
"I don't know what to explain to them, how their father was shot and killed by police," says Lyoya. "It still, they're still too young to understand that."
He's unsure how he'll ever share with them what happened.
"They think that their father will come back one day," says Lyoya. "And that was the most painful thing that we can ever see."
The family has filed a $100-million civil lawsuit against the city of Grand Rapids and Schurr, whose trial is expected to begin in October.
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