The family of an 11-year-old Mississippi boy who was shot by a police officer after calling 911 for help is demanding that the officer be charged with aggravated assault.
Aderrien Murry was shot in the chest by Indianola Police Department officer Greg Capers on Saturday morning after Capers responded to a domestic disturbance call at Murry’s home. Murry’s mother, Nakala Murry, said that her son was unarmed and following instructions from Capers when he was shot.
“He had done nothing wrong and everything right,” Carlos Moore, the family’s attorney, said at a news conference on Thursday. “He was following the officer’s instructions, and he was shot in the chest.”
Moore said that Capers should be charged with aggravated assault and that he should be fired from the police department. He also called for the release of bodycam footage of the shooting.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is investigating the shooting. Capers has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The shooting has sparked outrage in Indianola, a city of about 12,000 people in the Delta region of Mississippi. A small group of protesters held a sit-in protest with the Murry family at city hall on Thursday morning.
“We are demanding justice,” Moore said. “An 11-year-old Black boy in the city of Indianola came within an inch of losing his life.”
The shooting is the latest in a series of high-profile incidents involving police shootings of unarmed Black people. In recent years, there have been protests and calls for reform in cities across the country following the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and others.
The Murry family’s attorney said that the shooting of Aderrien Murry is a reminder that “Black lives matter.”
“This is a tragedy that could have been avoided,” Moore said. “This is a reminder that Black lives matter, and that we need to do something to stop this from happening again.”