The Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an 11-year-old last month after the boy called 911 for help has been suspended without pay.
Indianola Police Sgt. Greg Capers shot Aderrien Murry in the chest on May 20 after the boy called for help with a domestic disturbance.
Capers was suspended without pay effective immediately at a city Board of Aldermen meeting Monday evening, Alderman Marvin Elder confirmed to USA TODAY on Tuesday. Elder said the vote was 4-1.
“The family of Aderrien Murry, specifically his mother Nakala Murry, believes this is a step in the right direction,” said Carlos Moore, an attorney for the Murry family. Moore said the family is still demanding that Capers be terminated from his job and not be allowed to serve as a law enforcement officer again.
“He’s a danger to society,” Moore said, adding that the family wants to see Capers prosecuted for aggravated assault.
Michael Carr, an attorney representing Capers, said Capers wasn’t given due process by the city board that voted to suspend him and that Capers found out about the suspension without pay on social media. Carr said the shooting was an accident and Capers did not mean to shoot the boy.
What happened to Aderrien Murry?
Aderrien called the police in the early morning hours of May 20. Nakala Murry has said she was afraid for her and her children’s safety after one of the children’s father showed up acting “irate,” and she instructed Aderrien to call police.
Capers responded to the house in Indianola, a small city of about 10,000 residents in the western part of the state, and instructed everyone to come outside, according to a lawsuit filed by Nakala Murry. As Aderrien “was coming around the corner of the hallway that led into the living room area, he was instantly shot by Defendant Officer Capers,” the lawsuit says.
Aderrien suffered a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs. It felt “like a big punch to the chest,” the boy told “Good Morning America.”
“I actually thought I was about to lose my life,” Aderrien said.
Mother has filed lawsuit
Nakala Murry filed a suit against the city, the police chief and the officer accused of the shooting. The officials were accused of negligence and the use of excessive force in the lawsuit filed last month.
The family wants to see Capers terminated from his job, their attorney said. Capers was previously suspended, but the motion passed Monday also suspended him without pay.
Moore, the family’s attorney, has said the incident was the clearest case of excessive force he has ever seen. Moore told USA TODAY on Tuesday the family wants to see Capers criminally charged.
Nakala Murry filed an affidavit in circuit court accusing Capers of a criminal act, but authorities have not criminally charged him, according to Carr, who is Capers’ attorney.
Carr provided a copy of the affidavit, which accuses Capers of “recklessly” shooting Aderrien and causing him bodily harm. Carr said body camera footage was given to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, “which I am certain once released will clear him completely from any criminal allegation in the shooting.”
The MBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I’m awfully sorry it happend to this young man, Officer Capers is awfully sorry this happened to this young man,” Carr told USA TODAY.
