A Mississippi police officer accused of shooting an unarmed 11-year-old child who called law enforcement for assistance in a domestic disturbance incident has been suspended without pay, according to reports.
The action taken against Sgt. Greg Capers of the Indianola Police Department comes as an investigation is ongoing into the shooting that unfolded last weekend at the home of Aderrien Murry, his family attorney Carlos Moore told The Associated Press.
"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. 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," the child’s mother, Nakala Murry, told reporters earlier this week.
The mother said police responded to the residence in the rural city around 4 a.m. Saturday after the father of one of her other children showed up, knocked on a window and appeared "irate."
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"Justice needs to be done. This stuff cannot keep happening. My baby almost lost his life. He doesn’t understand. I don’t understand, it was scary, it was traumatic," she added. "My daughter was in the house as well, my 3-year-old nephew stays with me as well. It could have been him running around a corner, he couldn’t have took that bullet."
Moore told AP that two police officers responded, and one kicked the front door before Nakala Murry opened it. She told them the intruder had left the area, but three children were inside, according to Moore.
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Moore said Nakala Murry told him that Capers yelled into the home and said anyone inside should come out with their hands up. Moore said Aderrien walked into the living room with nothing in his hands, and Capers shot him in the chest.
"His words to me was ‘why did he shoot me?"’ Nakala Murry said her son told her right after being hit. "He ran to me, he was bleeding, I held him... he bled out the mouth."
The child spent five days in a local hospital for treatment for a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs before being discharged Wednesday, Moore said.
Indianola City Attorney Kimberly Merchant confirmed to The Enterprise-Tocsin newspaper in Indianola that Capers is the officer who fired the shot, according to the AP.
"MBI is currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence," Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin also told the news agency. "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."
The Indianola Police Department has not responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
