By Sharie Nicole and Joseph Doehring
Published: May. 25, 2023 at 1:20 PM CDT|Updated: May. 25, 2023 at 1:41 PM CDT
INDIANOLA, Miss. (WLBT) - Rising tensions and heated words stirred a small rally outside Indianola City Hall on Thursday, days after an 11-year-old boy was shot by a police officer.
“What are we here for?” protestors shouted. “Justice!” “When do we want it? Now!”
Family members say the boy, Aderrien Murry, initiated the 911 call for help on May 20. He is now recovering after being released from the hospital.
The boy’s mother, Nakala Murry, stood next to Attorney Carlos Moore and about a dozen protesters with signs that read, “Your ‘best’ cop shot my baby,” “Fire Greg Capers now,” and “Release bodycam footage.”
IPD confirmed the officer involved in the shooting is named Greg Capers but did not provide any additional details on the shooting, telling CNN the police chief, Ronald Sampson, was unavailable.
Just before entering city hall to speak with the town’s leaders, Nakala Murry was asked by local and national media how her son was doing.
“He’s doing well. He’s blessed. I don’t know how else to describe it - how else to describe how he survived. That’s the only thing I can say - he’s blessed. He [has] a lot of questions. He asked me in the hospital why they shot him. He was in good spirit[s], but every now and then I’ll look over at him and he’ll just cry.”
Four days after the shooting, Murry told CNN that “no one came to the hospital from the police station” nor had she spoken to any police investigators about the shooting.
Moore called the officers’ actions “asinine.”
“You look first and then you shoot!” Moore yelled. “You don’t shoot first and then look! That is asinine! That is asinine! And he was once called the best cop in Indianola? If you [are the] best, you need to close this entire police department because Greg Capers is worse than Barney Fife and Mayberry,” Moore said, referring to a fictional character in The Andy Griffith Show, based on a deputy sheriff in the slow-paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina.
Moore and eight other family members entered Indianola City Hall where no cameras were allowed; they walked out approximately 15 minutes later. Nakala Murry appeared shaken.
“Ms. Murry has had all she can take. She has pre-existing anxiety and this has worsened her anxiety... The mayor has not shown her any sympathy,” the attorney said about the encounter. “We basically sat there and voiced our opinions. We asked the mayor to say something to the family and offer some sort of comment on behalf of the city and if they’re sorry, let them know they’re sorry. The mayor would not say anything.”
The attorney is demanding that within 48 hours, the incident’s body camera footage is released and the involved officer and his police chief be fired.
In an interview with CNN, Murry said the father of another one of her children arrived at her home at 4 a.m., “irate.”
Concerned about her safety, Murry asked her son Aderrien to call the police.
Murry 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.” Murry said her son was shot coming around the corner of a hallway, into the living room.
“Once he came from around the corner, he got shot,” the mom said during the interview. “I cannot grasp why.”
The young boy was given a chest tube and placed on a ventilator at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson after developing a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver because of the shooting, his mother said. He was released from the hospital Wednesday.
Two other children, including Murry’s daughter and 2-year-old nephew, were also in the home at the time of the shooting, she said.
Attorney Moore said he would be filing a federal civil lawsuit against the city of Indianola, the police chief, and Greg Capers on Tuesday. He also requested that the Department of Justice perform a Pattern-or-Practice Investigation of Indianola’s Police Department, a tool the DOJ utilizes to bring about lawful and fair policing.
Monday evening, the Indianola Board of Aldermen voted to place Capers on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated, according to the family attorney.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said the agency is “currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence” and would turn over its findings to the state attorney general’s office after the investigation is complete.
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