Natalia Chi
The family of an 11-year-old Mississippi boy who was shot and injured by police officers who responded to a 911 call to his home last weekend has demanded the release of police body camera footage.
“The family deserves an answer and with an 11-year-old boy on the verge of dying, sooner or later it should be answered,” family attorney Carlos Moore told CBS News.
Moore said the family had asked the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) for body camera footage of Aideliene Murray, who was allegedly shot in the chest by an Indianola police officer early Saturday morning. Moore said the agency would not release the footage while the investigation was underway.
Body camera footage can provide important evidence about what happened in a case, but the law does not compel the footage to be released to the public. according to National Congress of State Legislatures.
“It’s unacceptable,” said Moore, who believes law enforcement will not release the footage “because it shows something that is damaging to the city of Indinola.” Indianola, known as the “Crown of the Delta,” is located in the Mississippi Delta and has 10,683 full-time residents.
The mother, Nakara Marie, said officers from the Indinora Police Department visited the family’s home after the child called the police about a domestic incident.
Around 4 a.m. on May 20, her daughter’s father knocked on her door and “said she was furious” while her children and nephew were asleep in bed, Marie said. She told CBS News that she gave her own cell phone to her son and asked him to call her mother and the police.
Moore said her son called the police first, then his grandmother, who were “trying to help protect his mother,” and Aidelien responded to a 911 call saying the man didn’t have a gun. added that he had spoken.
Police arrived at the house and knocked on the door at first, but then kicked it open, the family said.
The police yelled, “People in the house, put your hands up and get out!” Marie remembered.
Adrián followed the order and left the room into the living room, his family said. Moore said he entered the living room and was shot by the same police officer who told him to come out.
Marie said her son fell to the ground and then she grabbed him and tried to compress the gunshot wound.
“He started singing gospel. He started praying,” Marie said.
Aiderien was airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where he was diagnosed with a collapsed lung, a lacerated liver and broken ribs, and put on a ventilator, his family said. His family said he was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.
Indianola Police confirmed that Officer Greg Capers was involved in the shooting and was employed by the department, but referred other questions to MBI.
MBI told CBS News it is currently evaluating the case and gathering evidence. As this is an open and active investigation, no further comments will be made, officials said.
Indiola Mayor Ken Featherstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.
Indianola is located about 140 miles north of Jackson.
