An 11-year-old boy was shot by police after he called emergency services to help his unwell mum.
Aderrien Murry called the police on Saturday to report a domestic disturbance to try to protect his mother. Police then turned up and shot him in the chest, according to his mother, Nakala Murry, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
"What did I do?" Aderrien heartbreakingly told his mum after being shot.
Aderrien is now recovering at home after being placed on a ventilator and chest tube in the hospital for a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver.
The family is now calling for the police officer, who was identified by the family lawyer as Greg Capers, to step down and be charged with the shooting.
Nakala said that the "irate" father of another of her children arrived at her home at 4am on Saturday, prompting her to ask Aderrien to call the police, CNN reports.
She feared something bad could happen with her other daughter and 3-year-old nephew also in the home at the time.
“He called police and said his mother was afraid, but that the man did not have a gun,” Nakala said at a press conference.
She said the officer who arrived at the home "had his gun drawn at the front door and asked those inside the home to come outside."
As Aderrien turned the corner of the hallway, into the living room and the officer opened fire, striking Aderrien in the chest, she said.
She added that it was impossible for the officer to “know if it was a man, boy, pig or cow” that he shot, "because he shot so fast."
"His words were: 'Why did he shoot me? What did I do?' and he started crying," Ms Murry said. "This cannot keep happening. This is not OK."
Nakala said she had covered her son's wound with her hand and applied pressure, blood pooling beneath her palm.
Carlos Moore, the lawyer representing the family, told The Washington Post there’s no justification for what the officer did.
He continued: "Aderrien came within an inch of losing his life over the officer’s reckless actions. We have a young, unarmed Black boy shot in the chest. [Capers] is a threat to the safety of the residents of Indianola.
"He needs to face a grand jury of his peers for unnecessarily shooting this boy."
The Indianola Police Department confirmed to CNN that Capers, who is Black, was the officer involved in the shooting.
Sampson told the Enterprise-Journal that the shooting was "extremely tragic, on both sides."
The Indianola Board of Aldermen voted this week to place Capers on paid administrative leave while the case is investigated.
He was previously accused of using a Taser on Kelvin Franklin, another of Moore’s clients, when he was in handcuffs in December, according to the Jackson Advocate.
There have been 1,079 people who have been fatally shot by police in the United States in the last 12 months, according to a Post database.
The Washington Post contacted both Capers and the Indianola Police Chief Ron Sampson for comments and neither immediately responded to requests by Thursday.
