A Mississippi grand jury has found the officers who shot and killed a black man and his baby following a highway chase not guilty.
Eric Smith, 30, and his 3-month-old son, La'Mello Parker, died after officers chased Smith on Interstate 10 on May 3.
Authorities said Smith was suspected of killing two people, including the
mother of his son,
in Baker, Louisiana, before driving to Mississippi.
The Harrison County grand jury made its report public on Tuesday, according to multiple outlets.
Videos of the shooting showed
officers firing more than 20 times at Smith's car.
The man died at the scene and the
baby died a day later from a gunshot wound to the back,
according to authorities.
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Mississippi Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said Tuesday that Smith's actions were "violent and reckless" and showed no regard for others.
Tindell said that at one point, Smith got out of his vehicle, held the baby against his chest and fired at the officers.
"While all agencies involved took various steps to prevent this tragic outcome,
La'Mello Parker's life was needlessly taken as a direct result of the violent actions of her father
, Eric Smith," Tindell said in a statement.
Activists from various groups, including the NAACP, Mississippi Rising Coalition, Black Lives Matter and American Descendants of Slaves, have been pressing for answers and demanding transparency in the investigation of the deaths.
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Col. Randy Ginn, director of the Mississippi Highway Patrol, praised the grand jury's decision but said in a statement that "La'Mello Parker's tragic loss of life was unnecessary."
"That day, state troopers and other law enforcement officers went to extraordinary lengths in their attempts to resolve this incident peacefully," Ginn said.
“We continue to cry for the families of all those involved and we will continue to pray for their healing,” he added.
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The Department of Public Safety usually investigates shootings of or by law enforcement officers.
The Biloxi Police Department investigated the Smith and La'Mello shootings because state troopers were among those who shot.
The FBI analyzed the evidence, including shell casings collected at the scene.
Authorities said Smith had left Louisiana after
shooting and killing the baby's mother, Christin Parker, 32,
and her nephew, Brandon Parker, 26, at a home near Baton Rouge.
Smith took the baby and drove to Mississippi, where authorities began chasing him down I-10, according to authorities.
Agents used spikes to puncture the tires, with Smith driving as fast as 10 miles per hour (16 km/h), and at one point, he pulled into the interstate median near an exit.
