A Wayne County judge handed down a life sentence Friday, June 5, to the man who fatally shot Melvindale Police Cpl. Mohamed Said, closing a case that stretched nearly two years for the slain officer’s family.
Michael Lopez, of Southfield, will serve life in prison for the killing of Said — “where he deserves to be,” according to 3rd Circuit Judge Bridget Mary Hathaway — without the possibility of parole. Lopez was convicted of 12 charges related to the killing in April, including first-degree murder of a police officer.
The sentencing was tense and included several outbursts from Lopez — who at one point was kicked out of the courtroom — as loved ones described the pain of their loss, according to video broadcast of the sentencing. Lopez said Said was “not built” to be a cop, among other insults hurled at Hathaway and the prosecution.
Hathaway ejected Lopez from her courtroom after he threatened to report her for judicial misconduct. And, as he was taken out, he told prosecutor Rana Hadied: “If I was a Muslim man you wouldn’t be talking like that,” and “stay in your place, woman.”
Authorities say Lopez fatally shot Said during a foot chase in July 2024 after Said had stopped Lopez near Oakwood Boulevard and Clarann Street in Melvindale. A manhunt led to Lopez’s arrest.
Lopez had testified that he feared for his life when he shot the cop, but prosecutors countered that Said used a Taser during the struggle and called out “Taser” as he did so. Video shown to jurors indicated the officer did not have a gun in his hand.
It was not Lopez’s first run-in with law enforcement. He had previously served prison time on charges that included assaulting, resisting and obstructing an officer and causing injury. He was released in 2022 and discharged from parole roughly a month before the shooting. During Lopez’s sentencing, Hathaway suggested the reason he killed Said was because he didn’t want to go back to prison.
Said has been memorialized in the community, with a local elementary school now bearing his name.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. Contact her atasahouri@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Man given life sentence for killing Melvindale cop Mohamed Said
Reporting by Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Andrea May Sahouri, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
