A police officer in the southern US state of Mississippi has been suspended after shooting an 11-year-old boy while responding to a domestic disturbance.
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Aderrien Murry, who is Black, was shot once in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver, the boy’s mother, Nakala Murry, told CNN.
Police officials told AFP Friday they are investigating the incident.
Murry said her son, who has since been released from hospital, was shot by an African American police officer, who responded to a domestic violence call from the family on Saturday.
Murry said she asked Aderrien to call police after the “irate” father of another one of her children turned up at the family home around 4:00 am.
Murry said an 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?'”
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation told AFP on Friday that it is “currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence.
“Upon completing the investigation, agents will share their findings with the Attorney General’s Office,” it said.
Carlos Moore, an 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.
“We cannot continue to tolerate a system that allows police officers to use deadly force with impunity.”
Indianola is a predominantly African American town of nearly 10,000 residents in the Mississippi Delta.Â
According to a Washington Post database, 407 people have been shot and killed by police in the United States this year.
(AFP)
This story originally appeared on France24
