Southfield man gets life in prison over fatal shooting of Melvindale police officer

A man who was found guilty of killing Melvindale police officer Mohamed Said in 2024 will serve life in prison without parole. 

Michael Lopez of Southfield was convicted in April for the shooting death of the 26-year-old officer in the line of duty. 

Lopez was also charged with weapons possession by a person, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, weapons carrying with unlawful intent, five counts of felony firearm and fourth offense habitual offender.

His sentencing hearing on Friday in Wayne County Third Circuit Court was interrupted by a brief recess after he insulted the judge and had a further verbal outburst against the prosecuting attorney. About five minutes later, he was brought back into the courtroom to listen to Judge Bridget Mary Hathaway's decision in the case.

As Hathaway explained, the most serious of the 13 counts called for a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, and that is her order.

She noted that the jury in this case reached a verdict after less than an hour of deliberation.

The circumstances of the crime

According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, Lopez entered the Auto Zone at around 8:47 p.m. on July 20, 2024. Lopez allegedly entered the store as a customer, pointed a handgun at a store employee and robbed the store of money and knives before fleeing. 

Said was responding to a report of suspicious activity in Melvindale after the shooting when he came across Lopez. A pursuit resulted. Said used a taser on Lopez, who responded by pulling out a gun and shooting the officer. 

Lopez was later arrested in Detroit. 

Scene at the sentencing hearing

The judge warned Lopez that he was to sit quietly during the proceedings until it was his time to talk and that any outburst would result in his removal from the hearing room.

The sentencing proceedings began with the reading of written statements by members of Said's family, including his parents, a brother, three sisters and an uncle. Another brother, Ahmed Said, who was just sworn in two weeks ago as a Melvindale police officer, spoke in person and said, "Losing my brother will forever be the most devastating thing that will happen in my life."

Ahmed Said then hurled an insult towards Lopez and was escorted out of the courtroom.

When it was Lopez's turn to speak, he said he was "truly deeply sorry for Mohamed 's family and friends," and explained that he had asked his family and friends to stay away from the courtroom hearing.

Then he followed up with his actions on the day of the shooting.

"I was in fear of my life at that moment, at that time," Lopez claimed.

He continued to speak about what he thought was "the justice I deserved" in the case, citing the trial publicity and the fact that an officer was killed. Lopez said he plans to exhaust "all my remedies" legally available to him.

At one point, the judge told him, "please wrap up," and said he had just one more minute of allowed time. "You're wasting your time by arguing with me. Finish your statement," Hathaway said.

Lopez returned to the judge, "You don't deserve to be sitting there."

Deputies who were providing security in the courtroom inched closer to Lopez, and one of them ordered, "Have a seat, sir."

The judge gave the prosecuting attorney an opportunity to respond to Lopez's claims.

"He's been nothing but disrespectful," said Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Rana Hadied, who was handling the sentencing on behalf of the prosecution. "I have nothing to say to him."

Lopez replied, "If I was a Muslim man, you wouldn't be talking to me like that."

After that remark, he was ordered to stand up and deputies led him out of the courtroom for the unscheduled break.

As the court officials and attorneys decided to proceed, he was escorted back to his seat at the defense attorney's table and the judge began her remarks.

"Corporal Said deserved to come home to his family at the end of his shift," the judge said.

Lopez received the mandatory life in prison sentence, followed by 5 to 15 years in prison on each of counts 2 through 15, and 2 years in prison on each of the remaining counts.