Michael Lopez gets life for killing Melvindale officer Mohamed Said

Michael Lopez will spend the rest of his life in prison for the killing of Melvindale Police Corporal Mohamed Said, a sentence that landed after a tense hearing and closed a case that began with a July 2024 traffic stop at a car wash on Oakwood Boulevard and Clarann Street. Prosecutors said the stop turned into a foot chase, then gunfire, after Said tried to detain Lopez at about 12:34 p.m. on July 21, 2024.

Wayne County prosecutors said Lopez, 44, of Southfield, also received two years consecutive for felony firearm and 5 to 15 years on the remaining counts. A Wayne County jury found him guilty as charged on April 28, 2026, after he had been arraigned and remanded to jail on July 25, 2024. He had been charged with murder of a police officer, felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, carrying a concealed weapon, controlled-substance offenses, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, and five counts of felony firearm.

The courtroom itself reflected the weight of the case. Said’s family and fellow officers delivered impact statements, and Lopez was eventually escorted out after outbursts as Judge Bridget Hathaway imposed life without parole. Prosecutors said the encounter began when Said saw Lopez and a woman at the car wash, ordered Lopez to pick up a cigarette he had tossed on the ground, and then used a taser before Lopez fled and shot him. That sequence turned a routine stop into a homicide that hit the department at its core.

Melvindale’s loss spread far beyond the courtroom. The Michigan State Police Emergency Support Team arrested Lopez on July 22, 2024, and public mourning began with an officer-led procession to Verheden Funeral Home in Grosse Pointe Park. A regional memorial ride on July 21, 2025, started at the First Responders Memorial in Plymouth and ended in Melvindale with a stop at the car wash, a route that traced the exact spot where Said fell.

Said had served with the Melvindale Police Department for 14 months, and his death became the kind of case officers do not forget. Mayor Nicole Shkira called him a hero, and his brother Ahmed said policing was a way of life for him, not just a job. With life without parole now imposed, the legal answer is final, but the scene that started at a car wash and ended in gunfire still hangs over Melvindale.