A black schoolboy asked his mother “what did I do?” after being shot by police whom he called to protect her from a violent former partner.
Aderrien Murry, 11, from Indianola, Mississippi, was shot in the chest by an officer who “had his gun blazing” upon arrival, the Washington Post quoted the family’s attorney as saying.
Nakala Murry, the boy’s mother, said after her son was shot, he asked her: “Why did he shoot me? What did I do?” and began crying.
The Murry family are calling for the officer, who has been placed on paid administrative leave, to be fired.
The boy, who has been released from hospital, was treated for a collapsed lung, lacerated liver, and fractured ribs.
An officer from the Indianola Police Department arrived on the scene after the boy called 911 and “had his gun drawn at the front door”, Ms Murry told CNN.
She said she told her son to call the police after the father of another one of her children arrived at their house and was acting “irate”.
The shooting occurred within what felt like “one to two minutes” after the officer asked those in the house to come outside, Ms Murry told CNN, noting that as her son turned the corner of the hallway, the officer opened fire.
Ms Murry, who told the officer that no one was armed, said it was impossible for him to “know if it was a man, boy, pig or cow” that he shot.
“He wouldn’t know, because he shot so fast,” she said.
The 11-year-old complied with his request to put his hands up, she said, adding, “I cannot grasp why. The same cop that told him to come out of the house. [Aderrien] did, and he got shot.”
‘Never going to trust police again’
Carlos Moore, the attorney representing the family, said at a press conference: “What are you waiting on? Someone to actually die?”
Mr Moore told the Washington Post the events would be a lot for the boy to process, adding that, “he’s never going to trust the police again”.
He claimed that the officer allegedly involved had previously been named the department’s “best officer”.
Ron Sampson, Indianola police chief, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Washington Post.
Bailey Martin, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, told the Washington Post that the agency was not commenting on the case, but that it will share its findings with the Mississippi attorney general’s office once the probe is complete.
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