A grand jury has decided not to criminally indict a police officer who shot an 11-year-old boy in Indianola, Mississippi, earlier this year.
Aderrien Murry was shot in the chest by local officer Greg Capers, who was responding to a domestic disturbance call at his home on May 20.
According to Murry’s mother, Nakala Murry, she instructed Aderrien to call the police because the father of another one of her children arrived at her home “irate” around 4 a.m. that day. Murry said that when Capers arrived, he already had his gun drawn and asked those inside the house to come out. Other officers were reportedly also beating and kicking on the door.
She said her son was complying with Capers’ orders, but when he walked around the corner of a hallway into the living room, Capers saw movement and fired a shot from the outside of the house, which struck Aderrien in the chest.
The 11-year-old suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver as a result. He had to be placed on a ventilator but survived his wounds and was released from the hospital a few days after the shooting.
Aderrien’s mother and the family’s lawyer, Carlos Moore, were allowed to review bodycam footage of the shooting, but a judge sided with the city of Indianola to seal the footage from public view. Moore filed a petition against the sealing.
Capers has been suspended from the force without pay while the department conducts a full investigation into the shooting.
The family filed a federal lawsuit a few weeks after the shooting, demanding a trial and millions of dollars in damages. They argued that Indianola police chief Ronald Sampson and Officer Greg Capers “breached their duty to monitor, care for, and provide necessary safety to all civilians by deliberately shooting an unarmed 11-year-old.”
The complaint also notes inaction on the part of the Indianola Police Department to penalize Capers following other “numerous complaints”…
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