People are mounting pressure for authorities to fire and charge an officer after police shot an 11-year-old boy from Mississippi, USA. The incident occurred after the boy called 911 for assistance.
Aderrien Murry suffered severe injuries in the incident on Saturday, May 20. An Indianola police officer responded to a domestic call at the boy’s mother’s residence, as stated by Carlos Moore, an attorney representing the boy’s family.
This should not have happened,” Moore expressed. “The main question [Aderrien] has been asking is why did this happen to me? The child suffered a collapsed lung, lacerated liver, and fractured ribs… He’s blessed to have survived, but he’s still in pain emotionally and mentally.”
On Thursday, May 25, a group of protesters gathered at Indianola City Hall to demand accountability in the shooting of the unarmed boy. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the incident, which occurred at 6 a.m. at a home on BB King Road.
Furthermore,
The Indianola council unanimously voted to place the officer, Greg Capers, on paid administrative leave. The family’s lawyer stated that he was working to obtain body-camera footage of the shooting. Instead, the attorney revealed that Greg Capers shot the boy after he called for help on behalf of his mother.
The family’s attorney explained that during a confrontation between Nakala Murry, the boy’s mother and the father of one of her children, she handed her phone to the boy and instructed him to call the police and his grandmother.
When the police arrived, an informant told them the man had fled through the back door with three children inside the house and was unarmed. The attorney stated that the police ordered everyone to show themselves with their hands up. However, as the 11-year-old exited a bedroom with his hands raised, they shot at him.
He shot him immediately when his hands were up and he’s coming around the corner,” Moore detailed.
Moore insisted on terminating the officer and charging him with aggravated assault. At a news conference held at City Hall, he emphasized his demand for termination rather than suspension with pay, stating,
You don’t give someone a paid vacation who committed such a reckless act.”
The attorney indicated that the family intends to file a federal civil rights lawsuit. Moore also emphasized that we must hold law enforcement officers to a higher standard and ensure they receive proper training to de-escalate situations and prioritize non-lethal methods whenever possible.
CC: NPR
