Mississippi Family Seeks Charges after Policeman Shoots Boy, 11
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A Mississippi family is demanding a police officer be charged with aggravated assault for shooting an 11-year-old boy after police responded to the child’s own domestic disturbance call at his home.
Aderrien Murry, who called police at the request of his mother, was unarmed and following instructions from Indianola officer Greg Capers when Capers shot him in the chest last Saturday, family lawyer Carlos Moore said.
“We are demanding justice,” Moore said on Thursday during a protest that his law office showed on a livestream video.
“An 11-year-old Black boy in the city of Indianola came within an inch of losing his life,” Moore said at Indianola City Hall. “He had done nothing wrong and everything right.”
Aderrien’s mother, Nakala Murry, said her son is “blessed” to be alive but he does not understand why an officer shot him.
“This was the worst moment in my life and I feel like nobody cares. That’s my child, y’all,” Nakala said as she cried in the lobby of City Hall.
Moore said Nakala asked her son to call police at 4 am when the father of one of her other children showed up at her home. Moore said the man was irate and Nakala felt threatened, Al Jazeera reported.
“He called the police to come to his mother’s rescue,” Moore said of Aderrien. “He called his grandmother to come to his mother’s rescue. The police came there and escalated the situation.”
Moore said two officers responded and one kicked in the front door before Murry opened it. She told them the intruder had left the home but three children were inside, the lawyer added.
According to Moore, Murry told him Capers yelled into the home and said anyone inside should come out with their hands up. Moore said Aderrien walked into the living room with nothing in his hands, and Capers shot him in the chest.
Indianola City Attorney Kimberly Merchant confirmed to The Enterprise-Tocsin newspaper in Indianola that Capers is the officer who fired the shot.
Moore called for bodycam video to be released and objected to Capers being placed on paid leave pending the investigation.
Murry was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for treatment and released on Wednesday, CNN reported. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation announced it is probing the shooting.
The incident is the latest in a string of police shootings of unarmed African Americans. In April, officers responded to a domestic violence call at the wrong house and killed a 52-year-old man in New Mexico.
Breonna Taylor was killed in 2020 during a botched police raid in Louisville, Kentucky.