INDIANOLA, IA – An 11-year-old Mississippi boy was hospitalized for serious injuries after a police officer responding to his 911 call for help during a domestic disturbance at his home shot the unarmed child, according to reports.
Sgt. Greg Capers of the Indianola Police Department is currently suspended without pay while an investigation is being conducted into the shooting of Aderrien Murry last weekend.
According to Aderrien’s parent, Nakala Murry, police responded to a phone call placed by the boy at his mother’s behest at 4 a.m. last Saturday after the father of one of her other children arrived at their residence, knocked on the window, and behaved in an “irate” manner.
Murry said that two police officers responded to the call, at which time she informed them that the intruder had already left and the only other people in the apartment with her were her three children. She then said that an officer proceeded to kick in the door before she had a chance to open it; Sgt. Capers then was said to have yelled into the home that any one inside should come out with their hands up.
Aderrien then walked into the living room, empty handed, and Capers proceeded to shoot him in the chest, Moore said, who then relayed her son’s harrowing words immediately afterwards.
“His words to me was ‘why did he shoot me?”’ she said. “He ran to me, he was bleeding, I held him… he bled out the mouth.”
The boy was immediately rushed to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he was treated for a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver, and fractured ribs; he was discharged five days later.
Indianola City Attorney Kimberly Merchant confirmed that Sgt. Capers was the officer that had shot the child, and Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin stated that the incident was being investigated.
“MBI is currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence,” she said. “Upon completing the investigation, agents will share their findings with the Attorney General’s Office. Due to this being an open and ongoing investigation, no further comment will be made.”
A heartbroken Murry questioned the competency of the officer who allegedly shot her child, and demanded justice.
“This can’t keep happening. This is not OK. If a non-police officer was to shoot somebody, it’s not OK. When they do it, it’s not OK,” she said. “When the police do it, they have protocol, he was trained, he knows what to do…like, if you were scared, you are in the wrong field.”
or a specific category with our 