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Friday March 29, 2024

Police officer suspended after shooting 11-year-old

"This cannot keep happening. This is not OK," boy's mother says

By Web Desk
May 26, 2023
This representational picture shows a US police officer. — Unsplash/File
This representational picture shows a US police officer. — Unsplash/File 

A US police officer in the southern state of Mississippi has been suspended after he shot a young boy while responding to a domestic disturbance.

Aderrien Murry, an 11-year-old boy, was shot once in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver. Fortunately, he has been released from the hospital, AFP reported Friday.

In the report, police officials informed that they are investigating the incident.

Nakala Murry, Aderrien's mother, said her son, was shot by an African American police officer, who responded to a domestic violence call that was made by her son on Saturday.

Murry said she asked Aderrien to call the police to report the "irate" father of another one of her children who had turned up at their home around 4:00 am.

She also explained that the officer arrived with his gun drawn and asked those inside the home to come out.

Her son was shot as he entered the living room with his hands up, she told CNN.

"Once he came from around the corner, he got shot," Murry said. "I cannot grasp why."

She said her son "kept asking, 'Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?'"

"This cannot keep happening. This is not OK," she added.

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is "currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence, the organisation to AFP.

"Upon completing the investigation, agents will share their findings with the Attorney General's Office," it said.

This undated image courtesy of attorney Carlos Moore shows Aderrien Murry, 11, with family attorney Carlos Moore, after Murry was shot May 20, 2023, in Indianola, Mississippi. — AFP
This undated image courtesy of attorney Carlos Moore shows Aderrien Murry, 11, with family attorney Carlos Moore, after Murry was shot May 20, 2023, in Indianola, Mississippi. — AFP 

Carlos Moore, attorney for the Murry family, said the police officer, Greg Capers, has been suspended pending an investigation.

"Aderrien Murry is blessed to be home and alive," Moore said in a statement. "No child should ever be subjected to such violence at the hands of those who are sworn to protect and serve," he added.

"We cannot continue to tolerate a system that allows police officers to use deadly force with impunity."

Indianola is a predominantly African American town with around 10,000 residents in the Mississippi Delta.

According to a Washington Post database, 407 people have been shot and killed by police in the United States this year.