A police officer has been suspended after injuring with his service weapon an eleven-year-old boy who had called for help at his home in the south of the United States, at the request of his mother. Officers in Indianola, Mississippi, were called last Saturday around 06:00 a.m. "to respond to a domestic problem," and one of them opened fire during the intervention, state police said in a statement sent Friday to AFP.
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A minor resident, seriously injured, had to be hospitalized," and an investigation has been opened, said his spokesman Bailey Martin. Aderrien Murry was hospitalized "in intensive care because of a collapsed lung, lacerations to the liver and broken ribs" but was able to return home after a few days, said on Twitter the lawyer of the family, Carlos Moore. "No child should ever suffer such violence at the hands of those who take an oath to protect and serve," Moore added, calling for "a full and transparent investigation."
"Why did he shoot me?"
The boy's mother told CNN that she asked her son to call the police because one of his former spouses, visibly "angry," had just come to their home. An officer arrived "with his service weapon unsheathed and asked everyone to get out," Murry said. When her son entered the living room, "he shot him," she continued.
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Shot in the chest, Aderrien "kept saying, 'Why did he shoot me? What did I do wrong?'" According to the lawyer, the officer was suspended and an investigation was opened. But the family is demanding that he be fired and charged. It also demands the publication of the images filmed by the police officer's on-board camera.
Contacted by AFP, neither the local police nor the mayor responded. Indianola is a city of 10,000 people, the majority of whom are African-American. Aderrien Murry and the policeman who shot him are both black. U.S. police officers are frequently accused of using excessive force. According to a Washington Post database, they have killed 407 people since the beginning of the year.
